Yesterday, the team travelled to Wesleyan to compete at the Little III Championships for our first meet of the season, where we competed against Williams and Wesleyan. Little III's is a unique meet, as in each event at most two athletes from each team can score. As such, the coaching staff created a line up that would give us the best chance to maximize points in each individual event, and put together strong relay teams.
Going into the meet, the Williams men held a 31-year winning streak at this championship meet. By days end, the Amherst men ended that streak, beating Williams by 2 points by winning the meet concluding 4x400 relay. The women had a great day, as they finished second to the defending Indoor National Team Champions of Williams College, scoring 116 points, the most the women have scored at this meet in recent years.
The day got started in the field events, where Jordan Edwards '20 (pictured above) won the triple jump, and Kelechi Eziri '23 had a great Mammoth debut with his second place finishes in both the triple jump and long jump. Troy Colleran '22 won the high jump and placed second by misses in the pole vault, setting a new personal best in the event by over one foot! Throwers Jack Renda '23 and Jack Faulstick '21 scored key points in the shot put and weight throw.
Just as action in the field began to heat up, the track events began. Spencer Ferguson-Dryden '20 led the mile from gun to tape, executing a dominant victory. Troy Colleran set a new personal best in the 60 hurdles by 0.4 seconds, a significant improvement in such a short race. Stanley Dunwell '20 ran tough through illness to place a strong third in the 400, and Alex Mangiafico '20 (pictured) set a 3 second personal best in the 600, fighting to the line for a fourth place finish.
In the 60 meter dash, the short sprinters set the track on fire as Henry Buren '22, Nehemiah McGowan '21 and Elijah Ngbokoli '20 swept the event, placing first, second, and third, respectively. Both Buren and McGowan broke the previous school record in the event held by Buren, as they ran 7.00 and 7.02 seconds. Buren and McGowan returned to the track for the 200 meter dash, also placing first and second in the event to lock up critical points. Ryan Prenosil '21 delivered his first victory of the day in the 800, using a strong final kick to win the race. Braedon Fiume '23 ran a well-executed race to place second in the 1,000. Juniors Billy Massey and Ajay Sarathy placed third and fourth in the 3,000 meters, respectively, to finish up the individual events for the day.
With just the relays remaining, the Mammoths needed a victory in both the 4x800 and 4x400 to win the meet. Alfred Kibowen '23 led off the 4x800, handing off to Braedon Fiume '23, who ran a great leg after his 1000 race less than one hour before the relay. Braedon handed off to Spencer Ferguson-Dryden, who closed the gap on Williams to hand off to anchor Will Spurrell '23 in the lead, who brought the team home with a victory.
With just the 4x400 remaining, the score was tied and the Mammoths needed to win the relay to win the meet. Ben Wadsworth '22 led off in his second event of the day to hand off to Ellis Phillips-Galucci '23 in the lead, who handed off to Matt Gelin '23 in the lead. Matt made a gutsy move for the lead, and handed off to anchor Ryan Prenosil just behind Williams. Ryan ran an incredible anchor leg for the Mammoths, establishing a significant lead in the second lap to win the relay and break the 31-year Williams winning streak! The men's team couldn't have been more excited and it was great to see them come together as a group.
In the field, Annelise Romero '22 won the triple jump with a personal best jump of 10.88 meters. Ella Rossa '21 placed sixth and Sam Tichelaar '22 placed eighth in the long jump. Caroline Ferguson-Dryden '20 set personal bests in the shot put and weight throw, and Katie Siegel '20 placed fourth in the high jump.
On the track, Sarah Gayer '21 placed a strong third in the mile, and Ella Rossa '21 won the 60 hurdles. Juanita Jaramillo '22 ran a strong race to win the 400, with teammate Sophia Friedman '21 not far behind her in third. Katie Lingen set a new personal best in the 600 with her third place finish and Jordan Bailey-Rhodeman '21 ran her first 600 ever to place fifth. Firstyears Amerley Lokko and Karis Lee placed fourth and fifth in their Mammoth debuts in the 60 meter dash. Amerley later returned to the track for the 200 to place third. In the 800, Jenny Mazzella '20 used a great kick to place second. In the 1,000, Sophie Wolmer '23 ran a strong race to place second, and Rachel Ruderman '21 ran a well-executed race to place fourth. In the 3,000, Eline Laurent '22 and Mary Kate McGranahan '23 worked together to place sixth and seventh, respectively.
With the 4x800 and 4x400 relays remaining, victory as a team remained out of reach, but the Mammoths fought for every point. The 4x800 relay of Sarah Gayer '21, Kristin Ratliff '20, Jenny Mazzella '20 and Grace Haase '21 placed second, with each running strong legs. In the 4x400, Anna Madden '22 led off with a strong leg against the fastest 400 meter runner in Division 3 from Williams, to hand off to Ava Tillman '23. Ava ran a nice leg to hand off to Susannah Auderset '23, who closed a significant gap on Williams to hand off to anchor leg Juanita tied with Williams. Juanita ran a great race as the anchor leg, helping the Mammoths place second.
One of the team's goals is to have as many Mammoths as possible qualify for the Division III New England Championships, and we had 20 Mammoths earn qualifying marks yesterday!
Many thanks to the family and friends who came out and cheered for the Mammoths yesterday, we really appreciate it! Your support made all the difference. And an extra thanks to Dan Friedman who took nearly all of the photos used for this meet update.
NEXT UP for the Mammoths is the Mary Grinaker Invitational at nearby Smith College on Saturday, January 18th.