CHESTER, Pa - The Haverford College women's track and field team traveled to Chester, Pa, on Saturday to participate in the Chester Quarry Classic, hosted annually by Widener University. The Fords finished third out of eight teams, again doing more than just filling lanes and flights with their performances. In the meet, the top eight finishers score points in each event.
Naomi Fukuda competed in the top section of four in the 100-meter dash, placing fourth in her heat. The senior's time of 13.41 was good enough for a seventh-place finish in the final standings. Her time was a personal best, lowering her previous best by 0.02 seconds.
Isabel Thornberry was extremely close to breaking the 60-second barrier multiple times during the indoor season and continues to hover around the one-minute mark for the 400-meter race. Interestingly, the sophomore's personal best of 1:00.39 came at indoor championships. Usually, it's easier to run the 400 meters outdoors without the tight turns. However, in her first 400-meter race of the outdoor season, Thornberry blitzed to a 1:00.63 and a second place finish. One could expect her to break 60 seconds in the coming weeks as it's still early in the season, so that is something to monitor as the season continues.
Multiple Fords were entered in the 800-meter run. Completing the two laps the fastest for Haverford was senior Lauren Tanel. Tanel crossed the finish line when the clock read 2:27.12. Tanel's time was good enough for seventh place, just a tenth of a second off her personal best. Also competing were Dominique Monroy (2:33.86) and Taylor Seid (2:46.87 PR).
Three Fords competed in the hurdling events. In the 100-meter hurdles, Kayla Robinson ran over the ten barriers in a personal record of 19.48. At the same time, Jahsaiah Moses finished just ahead of her with a personal best of 16.86. Rachel November took part in the 400-meter hurdles in a fifth place effort of 1:14.39.
The longer events started with Annemarie Wood and Krysta Nichols in the 1500-meter race. Wood ran 5:24.97, a personal record for the junior, while first-year Nichols crossed the finish line in 5:29.20.
The event win for the Fords came in the 4x100 relay to kick off the meet. Haverford crossed the finish line first as the clock read 50.97, a season's-best. The team of Fukuda, Moses, Robinson, and Thornberry improved on their time of 51.25, run last week at Ursinus.
Robinson, getting experience in practically every event, also competed in the high jump, long jump, and triple jump. The junior cleared 1.36 meters (4 feet 5.5 inches) in the high jump before bowing out at 1.41 meters to take fifth place. Next, Robinson took fifth place in the long jump, jumping out to 4.67 meters (15 feet, 4 inches). Finally, she ended her day with a third-place finish and a personal record of 10.42 meters (34 feet, 2.25 inches) in the triple jump.
Staying with the field events, Alice Creed finished fourth in the pole vault, clearing 2.80 meters (9 feet, 2.25 inches). Cortlyn Morris took second place in the shot put, with her final throw of the day getting out to 10.69 meters (35 feet, 1 inch). Sydney Cummings also secured points with a fifth-place finish, throwing 9.27 meters (30 feet, 5 inches).
Morris followed up her performance in the shot put with a second-place finish in the discus. The junior's third throw would be her best, as her throw measured 31.37 meters (102 feet, 11 inches). The junior again followed her lead and placed fifth after throwing 25.44 meters (83 feet, 5 inches). Their days would end with the javelin as Cummings finished third (99 feet 6 inches) and Morris finished fourth place (98 feet).
It took a season's best effort from Haverford to finish in second place in the 4x400 relay. The team of Fukuda, Moses, Flynn, and Thornberry crossed the finish line in 4:07.28.
The Fords will compete in Chester again next weekend, April 22-23, at the Widener Invitational. The meet is set to begin at 1 p.m. on Friday and then resume at 9 a.m. on Saturday.