COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Haverford College women's indoor track & field team got its season underway Saturday afternoon at the Ursinus College Bow-Tie Meet. Competing with the sprinters and a couple field event entrants, the Fords had a first or second place showing in five of the six events that they contested.
Haverford's championship performance came in the 4x200 relay. After experiencing success in individual sprinting events, the team of Brittany Steele, Mairead Ferry, Taylor Murphy, and Tess Oberholtzer was the first across the line in a time of 1:51.09. Haverford's relay finished 1.75 seconds ahead of runner-up Lebanon Valley.
In the individual sprints, Steele posted identical times during both the preliminaries and finals of the 60 meter dash, crossing the line in 8.04 seconds. She took home second place on both occasions. Murphy just missed a trip to the final with a time of 8.33 seconds, becoming the sixth fastest individual in school history in the event. Ferry placed 13th overall with a time of 8.53 seconds.
The Fords sent three runners to the finals of the 60 meter hurdles. In the finals race, Murphy finished runner-up with a time of 9.55 seconds. Her second top 10 time in school history on the afternoon puts her in a fourth place tie with Eliza Reiss '10 for the event. Oberholtzer now ranks 10th in school history after her time of 10.11 seconds in the preliminaries. She finished the finals in fifth with a time of 10.22 seconds. Ferry was just behind her in sixth with a time of 10.26 seconds. She posted a time of 10.02 seconds in her preliminary. The Fords' only other performance on the track came with an 11th place finish from Amy Zamora in the 400 meters with a time of 1:07.38.
In the field events, Claire Sargent was just edged out of the top spot in the shot put by Gwynedd Mercy's Trinity Henderson. Sargent's throw of 39 feet, one inch (11.91m) was bested by just three inches. Elizabeth Reikowski also posted a runner-up finish for the Fords as she was second in the triple jump with a leap 33 feet, eight and a half inches (10.27m). Grace Mathis placed fifth in the event with a distance of 31 feet, 10 and one-quarter inches (9.71m).
Women's indoor track & field will now close the fall semester portion of its schedule with the running of the Widener Dual Meet this Thursday, December 10. That meet is scheduled to get underway at 4:30 p.m. in the Alumni Field House.