Women’s track and field third at Tufts’ Snowflake Classic
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Kirkland |
Duncan |
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Marino |
Alexander |
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Kendall |
Balentine |
MEDFORD, Mass. — The Bates women’s track and field team opened the 2008 outdoor season in fine fashion on Saturday at Tufts University’s Snowflake Classic. The Bobcats were third out of 13 teams at the meet with 138 points, only 1.50 points behind Tufts and ahead of Boston University (106). Dartmouth won the team scoring with 196.50 points.
Highlights for Bates included:
- Senior Cassandra Kirkland (Greene, Maine) and sophomore Vantiel Elizabeth Duncan (Topsham, Maine) scored big points for Bates in the throwing events. Kirkland won the discus throw in 109-04, with Duncan second in 98-10. Duncan was also second in the shot put, while Kirkland came in fifth. In the hammer throw, Duncan was third with Kirkland was fourth. Meanwhile, first-year Sarah Ellen Godek (Gilford, N.H.) was sixth in both the shot and the discus.
- Junior Jen Marino (Methuen, Mass.) won the triple jump with a top leap of 35’05.75″. Marino was also eighth in the 200-meter dash.
- Bates had a strong contingent in the 5,000-meter run, led by senior Molly Balentine (Hampden, Maine) in third (18:53.51), senior Aviva Goldstein (Manchester, N.H.) in fourth, first-year Jennifer Mitton (Reisterstown, Md.) in fifth and sophomore Abby Samuelson (Freeport, Maine) in seventh.
- Junior Izzy Alexander (Harvard, Mass.) was second in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:06.03 and fourth in the 100-meter hurdles finals with a time of 17.08 seconds.
- Bates took first, second and fourth place out of five competitors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Sophomore Esther Kendall (Ridgeway, Ontario) won the race in 12:27.50, followed by first-years Rachel Vaivoda (skaneateles, N.Y.) and Megan McClelland (Keene Valley, N.Y.) in second and fourth, respectively.
- Bates placed teams third and sixth in the 4×400 relay.
Bates will next compete at the Jim Sheehan Memorial Meet at Fitchburg State College on Saturday, April 5 starting at 11 a.m.






