Pictures from Div III New England Championships

Running Pioneer Julia Chase-Brand Visits Smith and Runs with Team

While a student at Smith in 1961, Dr. Julia Chase-Brand '65 defied the gender barrier in women's road racing. During a time when females were not allowed to run over 800m competitively, this college sophomore broke that rule and participated in one of the country’s largest road races in Manchester, Connecticut. Because of her actions, she was banned from running by the Amateur Athletic Union, but she started a trend that would not stop.  Soon, other female distance runners followed suit, and slowly—very slowly—race organizers and athletic associations took action, opening the door to women competing in races of all distances.

On Thursday, February 9, Dr. Chase-Brand returned to Smith to speak about her experiences as a pioneer not only in the world of running, but also in her career as a scientist studying bats and gorillas, and her decision to begin medical school when she was almost 50.  She continues to practice medicine today, at the age of almost 70. Before her lecture, she visited track practice wearing her old Smith gym suit and ran a few laps around the track with the team.  Here is a short video clip from the run:

Smith Wraps Up Its Regular Season--First Championship Is This Weekend

Track Athlete of the Meet Sonia and Teammate of the Meet Mary at Tufts
give us a friendly reminder that flu season is upon us--use hand sanitizer!  

Smith wrapped up the regular indoor track season this past weekend with some athletes competing Friday at Boston University's invitational, others competing Saturday at Tufts University's invitational, and seven athletes competing in both meets.  Ten new personal records were set over the course of two days.  Here are the team's picks for track athlete, field athlete, and teammate of the meets:

Track Athlete of the Meet: Sophomore Sonia Brown ran two blazing 200s in two days.  On Friday at BU, she set a new personal record for herself, clocking in at 27.61.  During the 4x200 on Saturday at Tufts, her split time was even faster.

Field Athlete of the Meet: Sophomore Maya Rittmanic competed both days, with a pentathlon performance on Saturday.  At Tufts, she came in second place in both the high jump and the long jump.

Teammates of the Meet: Senior Mary Cote and Sophomore Kristen Warren tied for teammates of the meet. Mary competed in four events and spent all free time cheering on others. Kristen, who is nursing a calf/hamstring injury and had to pull out of two events, wasted no time feeling sorry for herself and instead focused all attention on her teammates.

This weekend: Eight team members qualified for the Division III New England Championship meet that will be held at Smith this Friday and Saturday, February 17 and 18: Morgan, Katie, Sonia, Kirsten, Kayla, Maya, Mary, and Sarah.  Congrats!

Which one of these is not like the others?

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Watch out--something is in the water at Smith! Athletes share the love with Coach Lisa...due any day now!

Vault, Throw, and Jump Footage from Indoor So Far

Here are a few clips from Wesleyan and the most recent Smith Invite: Jean and Kristen on pole vault, Mary in the triple, Sarah in weight throw, and Jean again on pole vault.

Team Celebrates Weekend Performances in Style

Sassy! Smith T&F pays homage to a certain, unnamed rival team from this past weekend's invitational.

Suffice it to say, the Smith T&F team gave a friendly fashion shout-out during Monday's practice to a certain, unnamed team from this past weekend's Beynon Invitational.  The otherwise quiet meet ended with a bit of unexpected flare as one team's 4x400 relay sported, uh, something resembling old-school speed suits. Yet those speed suits were no match for Smith's first place 4x400 team of Kayla Clark, Kirsten Silfvenius, Fiona Jones, and Maya Rittmanic.

As a team, Smith placed second behind Amherst and ahead of Mount Holyoke and Wellesley.  Smith had competitors in almost every event, including Cameah's strong solo performance in the 500m race.  Here are the winners of the Track, Field, and Teammate of the Meet Awards:

Track Athlete of the Meet: Kylee Drugan-Eppich'14, for her unrelenting performance in the 3k.  She chopped 30 seconds off of her previous 3k PR!

Field Athlete of the Meet: Maya Rittmanic '14 for her ECAC-qualifying high jump of 1.58m.  (She also deserves a shout out for her appearance in the 60m hurdles!)

Teammate of the Meet: Kayla Clark '14 for regularly checking in with teammates throughout the meet.