Alexander places 6th in 400-meter hurdles at NCAAs
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| Izzy Alexander races to a new Bates record time of 61.91 seconds in the finals of the 400-meter hurdles. (Photo by Alison Wade) |
Alexander’s time of 61.91 seconds was good for sixth place in the event, just .06 behind Wisconsin-River Falls senior Shannon Zweifel and .09 ahead of Wisconsin-Eau Claire senior Liz Faller, thanks to an extra dose of acceleration down the final straightaway. Alexander’s time again broke her own Bates record, which since preliminaries two days ago had stood at 61.94 seconds. Calvin College senior Sarah Wittingen won in 59.39 seconds.
Also competing for the Bobcats on Saturday, sophomore Vantiel Elizabeth Duncan (Topsham, Maine) finished 12th out of 19 competitors in the shot put. Her top shot put of 42-11 was sixth out of nine in her preliminary flight but not far enough to advance to the finals. In her first trip to outdoor nationals, Duncan placed 15th in the hammer throw and 12th in the shot put. Duncan won All-America honors at indoor nationals in March, finishing eighth in the 20-pound weight throw.
Alexander (Harvard, Mass.) also finished sixth in the 800-meter race at indoor nationals in March, and was part of Bates’ All-America distance medley relay team at the 2007 indoor nationals.
Bates finished with three points as a team, tying for 67th place out of 83 scoring teams at the championships, along with eight other schools, including New England rivals Williams, Smith and MIT.