The Colorado College women’s track and field team traveled to Hays, Kansas to participate in the Alex Francis Classic this past weekend. Colorado College placed sixth in the nine-team event. The long distance runners were in action on Friday while the short-distance sprinters took to the track on Saturday.
After a tough first day of competition, CC found itself in third place.
“The Fort Hays meet is great for the distance runners because it’s the first twilight meet of the season,” said Head Track and Field Coach Ted Castaneda. “Twilight means we’ll have less wind and lower temperatures because we’re starting in the morning.”
Senior Rebecca Lavietes brought home first place in the 5k race by setting her personal record time of 18 minutes, 15.18 seconds. Sophomore Katie Sandfort broke the 19-minute threshold for the first time in her career with a time of 18 minutes, 52.11 seconds.
“We traditionally do very well in this meet because it gets the whole team fired up, and Rebecca had an outstanding performance,” said Castaneda. “Her goal had been to get under 18 minutes, 30 seconds (in the 5k) and she ran an 18 minute, 15 second time. We have standards for the Occidental Meet because we only take six people, and Rebecca got herself in.”
“We always run well in Fort Hays in the 800 because the lower elevation works to our advantage. It makes a big difference for the distance runners,” Castaneda said, crediting the change in scenery for the lowering in times.
The Tigers continued a season-long trend of strong performances in the 800-meter race by placing five runners in the top twelve of the event. Sophomore Stefani Messick led the way for CC by placing second and setting a personal record with a time of 2 minutes, 28.24 seconds.
The Tigers finished the grueling meet with the short distance and field events on Saturday. Sophomore and captain of short distance sprinting Ellie Swanson paced the Tigers by placing fifth in the 400-meter event. Swanson was participating in her first meet of the season. “We only had two girls participate in the sprints,” she said. Despite the low number of participants, Swanson expects the sprinters to improve over the course of the season.
“We’re midway through the season, so our times aren’t exactly where we want them to be,” said Swanson. “We still have five meets left, so we’re just getting going.” Swanson credits the team cohesiveness for the successes the group has seen so far. “We have a really good group of sprinters this year,” she added. “We get along really well and support each other, which something that we lacked last year, so it’s nice to see.”
Swanson also anticipates success later in the season because of the younger girls on the team. “The freshmen who went to Kansas with us are showing a lot of potential,” she said. First-year Samantha Gilbert had a strong showing in the 200-meter by placing 12th with a time of 28.22 seconds.
“Everyone is moving towards PRs with the Occidental Meet coming up,” said Castaneda. “I’m really pleased with the performance. I had a great time watching everyone run so well.”
The Tigers will be back on the track this Saturday when they host their only home meet.