AMHERST, Mass. -- The Bates women's outdoor track and field team faced off against a number of NCAA Division I schools at the UMass Flagship Spring Opener on Saturday, turning in a number of impressive performances along the way. Bates tallied 27 points as a team and put a few athletes on the program's all-time top-10 list in the process.
Meet Highlights
- First-year Mikayla Ferguson (Winchester, Mass.) qualified for the New England Division III Outdoor Championships and placed third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 12:00.21. Sophomore Meadow Gregory (Exeter, N.H.) was right behind in 12:10.70, also qualifying for New Englands.
- Sophomore Alannah Ardrey (New York City) took fourth in both the high jump (5-0.25 / 1.53m) and the triple jump (34-2.25 / 10.42m). First-year Graca Bila (Westbrook, Maine) also scored points in the triple jump, placing fifth with a leap of 33-11.5 (10.35m).
- Junior Moriah Scharn (Dunstable, Mass.) placed fifth in the 100-meter hurdles in a season-best time of 15.27 seconds.
- Junior captain Carli Ciavarelli (Ridgefield, Conn.) qualified for New Englands and took sixth place in the hammer throw with a top distance of 147-11 (45.08m).
- Junior captain Lucy Paynter (Hillsborough, Calif.) set a personal record in the 800 meters, qualifying for the NESCAC Championships with her time of 2:25.17, winning her section and good for ninth place overall out of 21 runners.
- Senior Rosie McKerley (Coventry, Conn.) cleared the bar at 9-6.5 (2.91m) in the pole vault, good for eighth on the Bates all-time performance list.
- First-year Marie-Ève Maillet (Saint-Antoine, New Brunswick) moved up to sixth on the Bates all-time performance list in the outdoor shot put with her throw of 37-7.25 (11.46m), good for eighth place at the meet. She also impressed in the javelin with a personal-record toss of 114-8 (34.96m), good for sixth on the Bates all-time performance list.
The Bobcats are back in action next weekend at the Providence College Friar Invitational on Friday and the UMass Commonwealth Invite on Saturday, with heptathletes going to Smith College's two-day Carla Coffey Invitational.
