The Mammoths enjoyed a great weekend competing at the Division III New England Championships! Both the men's and women's teams earned fourth place finishes, a fantastic finish in a deep field of teams! On the second day of competition, we wore our white championship uniforms, adding to the excitement of the day.
The meets were split by gender, as the women competed at Middlebury College, and the men competed at Springfield College. Competition began on Friday with the multi events, distance medley relay, and 5k, and the rest of the events were contested on Saturday.
Friday
Our multi eventers started competition for us on Friday, as Ella Rossa and Annelise Romero competed in the one-day pentathlon, and Troy Colleran and Jack Trent started the first day of the two-day heptathlon.
In the pentathlon, Ella set personal bests in the high jump, long jump and 800 en route to victory, becoming the D3 New England Champion with a personal best score of 3265 points! Her victory gave the Mammoths 10 points. Annelise set personal bests in the 60 meter hurdles, shot put, long jump and 800 to set a personal best in the pentathlon with a score of 2917 points! With her score, she placed seventh and earned two points for the Mammoths!
Over at Springfield, Troy Colleran set a huge personal best in the 60 meter dash on the first day of competition, running a time of 7.07 seconds! Prior to the 2020 season, the school record in the event was 7.07 seconds, and Troy's excellent run was a great display of his speed. Jack Trent set a significant personal best in the long jump, jumping 6.01 meters (19' 8.75"). He also set personal bests in the high jump, with a jump of 1.71 meters (5' 7.25") and shot put, with a throw of 11.61 meters (38' 1.25") to close off a great day one.
The next event on the track was the distance medley relay. The women, entering without a seed time, ran in the slower heat, making it more difficult to score points. In a great effort, Isabella Landry, Isabelle Lobo, Jordan Bailey-Rhodeman and Sarah Gayer all ran well and competed for each other, placing second in their heat, which earned them seventh place overall, giving the team two points!
At Springfield, the men's distance medley relay of all underclassmen of Braedon Fiume, Ellis Phillips-Galucci, Will Spurrell and Owen Daily placed third in a strong heat! This earned the team 6 points!
In the 5k, Braxton Schuldt placed sixth in a great race in a time of 15:06! With his finish, he earned the Mammoths 3 points. In the same race, Ajay Sarathy competed well. At Middlebury, Kristin Ratliff competed hard in the 5k in her last indoor race as a Mammoth.
Saturday
Action resumed on Saturday with the heptathlon, where Troy and Jack competed in the 60 meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000. With solid performances across the board, Troy became the D3 New England Champion in the heptathlon in a school record and personal best score of 5,048 points! His victory earned the Mammoths 10 key points, and he currently is ranked fifth in Division 3 nationally in the event. Jack Trent had an awesome second day of competition, setting personal bests in the pole vault with a jump of 3.35 meters (10' 11.75") and the 1,000 meter run, in a time of 2:56! His efforts earned him ninth place, just one place out of scoring, an incredible finish for the firstyear in his first season of track and field competition.
Sam Tichelaar got the women's competition started on Saturday at Middlebury, jumping a collegiate best, with a leap of 5.29 meters (17' 4.25"), placing ninth.
At the men's meet, Troy Colleran led the Mammoths in the long jump, jumping 7.03 meters (23' 0.75") to place fourth, earning five more points for the Mammoths! Firstyear Chris Gong set a personal best in the long jump, leaping 6.79 meters (22' 3.5") to place sixth, giving the Mammoths three more points! Theo Bates also competed in the long jump, jumping his second-best mark of the season, with a jump of 6.27 meters (20' 7"), placing eighteenth.
Next on the track were the prelims of the 60 meter hurdles and 60 meter dash. At Springfield, Yonas Shiferaw ran well in the preliminaries of the 60 meter hurdles, running a time of 8.68 seconds, just 0.02 seconds off his personal best in the event set last week. Unfortunately, Yonas missed the finals placing 13th, but the progress he has made this indoor season bodes well for outdoor. At Middlebury, Ella ran the fastest time in the prelims with a time of 8.97 seconds to advance to finals.
In the 60 meter dash prelims at Springfield, Henry Buren advanced to the finals with a time of 7.04 seconds. Chris Gong set a personal best with a time of 7.10 seconds, placing twelfth! Elijah Ngbokoli matched his personal best set earlier this season, running a time of 7.13 seconds, placing thirteenth right behind Chris.
In the mile, Spencer Ferguson-Dryden placed third in a very competitive race, in a great time of 4:14! With his time, he ranks sixteenth nationally in Division 3 in the mile and added six points to the Mammoths team score. Braxton Schuldt and Owen Daily both competed well in the mile coming off great efforts from Friday night.
In the mile at Middlebury, Sarah Gayer won her heat in a great effort and time of 5:11, which placed her eighth and earned one point for the Mammoths.
In the 60 meter hurdles finals, Ella earned her second victory of the weekend, earning another Division 3 New England title! Ella ran a school record and personal best time of 8.85 seconds, which is currently ranked twelfth nationally in Division 3! Ella also added 10 points to the Mammoths team score with her victory.
In the 400, Anna Madden ran a season best time of 1:00.00 to place eleventh in a strong field. In the same heat, Susannah Auderset competed hard to run a time of 1:03.45. In the first heat, Isabelle Lobo fought hard despite a stumble, and ran a time of 1:03.42. In the third heat, Juanita Jaramillo and Sophia Friedman both competed well, as they ran times of 1:00.07 and 1:01.72, respectively.
Ryan Prenosil won the 600 in a great display of speed and strength in a time of 1:21.11, which is the fourth best time in Amherst history! With his D3 New England Championship, he added 10 points to the Mammoths team score. Andrew Swenson won his heat in a season best time, placing 11th overall. In a different heat, Will Spurrell ran a time of 1:24 in a competitive heat, not far off his personal best in the event.
In the 600 at Middlebury, Ava Tillman won her heat in a personal best time of 1:42.2! Katie Lingen, competing in a competitive heat, placed fourth in a personal best time of 1:38.2, which moves her up to fourth all-time at Amherst!
In the 800, Jenny Mazzella competed hard in her heat, running a time of 2:22. In the 1,000, Isabella Landry ran a personal best time of 3:09, running a well-executed race. In the same heat, Maggie Drew competed well, running a time of 3:13.
In the 200, Nehemiah McGowan placed 8th in a time of 23.02 seconds, earning one point for the Mammoths! Henry Buren also ran the 200, running a time of 23.52 seconds, placing thirteenth.
In the women's 200, Sam Tichelaar set a personal best with a time of 26.13 seconds! Sam entered the meet as the last entrant in the event, and left with a seventh place finish, and fourth on the all-time list at Amherst! Sam added two points to the Mammoths campaign. Amerley Lokko also ran the 200, and had a great race, running a time of 26.57 seconds, placing fourteenth!
In the 3k, Sophie Wolmer ran a great race, placing second in a strong field! Sophie set a personal best with a time of 10:00, and ran an excellent final two laps, adding eight points to the Mammoths team total. With her time, Sophie is ranked 21st nationally in the event! Eline Laurent also ran the 3k, and competed smart and hard, finishing in a great time of 10:40, not far off her personal best set a few weeks ago!
In the 3k at Springfield, Ajay Sarathy ran a great race in the slower 3k heat, placing second in his heat in a time of 8:43, which earned him eighth place overall. In the faster heat, Billy Massey competed well in a strong field, running a time of 8:42 to place sixth. Ajay earned the team one point, and Billy earned the team three points, adding four points to the Mammoths team score.
In the second to last track event of the day, the women's 4x400 of Anna Madden, Katie Lingen, Sophia Friedman and Juanita Jaramillo ran a great race to place second, contributing 8 points to the team score! With 50 meters to go in the race, pictured above, Juanita made up a huge gap on NESCAC rival Bates, bringing the Mammoths across the line in second place, earning 8 points for the team!
The men's 4x400 placed sixth in a strong field! Kyland Smith, Stanley Dunwell, Ellis Phillips-Galucci and Alex Mangiafico all ran great legs, and worked well together to add three points to the Mammoths team score!
In the final field event of the day, the triple jumpers had a great day. On her first jump, Annelise jumped a huge personal best with a mark of 11.17 meters (36' 7.75")! This placed Annelise sixth, adding three points to the Mammoths team score. Lauren Lamb also had a great first jump for her best jump of the day, jumping 10.73 meters (35' 2.5"), placing nineteenth and not far off her season best set last weekend.
At Springfield, Kelechi Eziri led the Mammoths with a jump of 13.74 meters (45' 1") to earn seventh place, and contribute two points to the Mammoths! Seniors Yonas Shiferaw and Jordan Edwards placed thirteenth and fourteenth, respectively, in jumps of 13.24 meters (43' 5.25") and 13.23 meters (43' 5"), respectively.
In the final track event of the day, the 4x800, the pressure was on for the Mammoths. Both the men and women responded to the challenge, as the men's 4x800 relay of Braedon Fiume, Spencer Ferguson-Dryden, Will Spurrell and Ryan Prenosil won! Ryan anchored the Mammoths to victory, earning the team 10 points.
The women's 4x800 ran a great race, as all four legs kept the team in contention. Jenny Mazzella ran a great anchor leg, sprinting past Bowdoin in the final 100 meters to help the Mammoths place fourth, adding five points to the Mammoths team score!
At the end of the day, both the men's and women's teams placed fourth! For the women, it was their first time placing in the top-10 since 2015! For the men, it equalled their best finish at the meet ever. The meet marks a huge step forward for both teams, as they competed well against many of the best teams in the nation and we couldn't be prouder!
Many thanks to the family and friends who cheered us on this weekend, we really appreciate it! And many thanks to Dan Friedman for taking the wonderful pictures of the women's team used in this presentation.
NEXT UP for the Mammoths is the Tufts National Qualifying Meet on Saturday March 7th, a last chance opportunity for the Mammoths to qualify for the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field National Championships.