CHESTER, Pa. – The Haverford College women's outdoor track & field team continued its steady growth throughout the year as 13 individual personal bests were set out of a total of 25 individual performances on Saturday at the Widener Invitational. Headlining that success was Sophie Drew's personal best in the 1,500 meters, garnering her the second individual title in that event this spring.
With a large Haverford contingent in the 1,500 meters, Drew led the way to the finish as she crossed the line in a time of 4:40.20. Four of Haverford's five entrants in that event also ran personal bests as Jolie Jaycobs (4:49.83), Amalia Axinn (5:00.50), and Lauren Tanel (5:19.81) all accomplished that feat. Mariana Ramirez also competed in that event, finishing with a time of 5:10.06.
Haverford's four steeplechase entrants all turned in top 10 performances. Mckenna Krall placed fourth in that event with a time of 12:38.33 to lead the Fords. Annie Connolly-Sporing (12:49.37) and Sophie Schleifer (12:53.54) both broke the 13-minute mark for the first time this spring to claim the fifth and sixth positions, while Zoe Arditi finished with a season-best time of 13:10.86. Haverford's only other distance event was the 5,000 meters. Hannah Doll led that group with a fifth-place performance and a time of 18:27.26. Izzy Miller (19:25.71) ran that event for the first time during the outdoor season while Angie Petrichenko was right behind her with a personal-best time of 19:27.22.
Haverford's sprinters teamed up for the 4x100 meter relay team which finished in a time of 49.98 seconds for the fifth-fastest relay in school history. Individually, Jessica Lopez turned in a fifth-place time of 12.68 seconds in the 100 meter dash, just two-hundredths of a second off of her PR set earlier this year. Naomi Fukuda (27.65 seconds) and Marisa Antinori (28.54 seconds) both had personal bests in the 200 meters, while Ruanna Small set her new PR with a time of 1:02.59 in the 400 meters. The Fords also got a new personal-best time of 2:22.95 from Griffin Kaulbach in the 800 meters.
Grace Mathis was Haverford's only entrant in the field events as she cleared three meters (9'-10") in the pole vault to just miss a scoring performance with a ninth place height.
With the quickest turnaround of the spring season, the Fords will be back in action this Monday for their only home meet of the season as the Haverford Invitational is set for April 22. Throwing events will get underway at 3:45 p.m. while action on Johnson Track starts at 4 p.m.