Outdoor track season is under way at last!

The transition to competing and practicing outside was welcomed warmly after months inside, but the outside did not welcome us warmly.  Snow fell during spring break, re-covering the track that had finally just melted.  During the past two weeks of practice, we have had two days with snow flurries.  But we can handle all kinds of weather at practice if we continue to have track meet days as gloriously perfect as last Saturday's meet at Mount Holyoke.  The sun shone brightly, and the air was crisp and clear.  It was warm enough to be comfortable when running, but not so warm that you wanted to take off your jacket when cheering.  (Of course, there were occasional big gusts of wind, but that's a different story.  Suffice it to say that our relationship with the team tent has been forever changed.)

It was a perfect day for an outdoor track meet!  Good bye to cramped indoor tracks where you have to navigate jumpers, throwers, runners warming up, and sprinters finishing to get to the water fountain.  Hello Outdoor Track, where getting from the javelin to the long jump takes enough time that you might need to reapply sunscreen.

There were several notable performances from the meet.  Maya broke the facility record in the high jump with a jump of 1.60m, which qualified her for ECACs and Div III NE Championships.  The 4x100 relay team of Sonia, Amanda, Kirsten, and Maya came in first, and the 4x400 team of distance runners (Katie F, Danielle, Micaela, and Katie D) came in fourth place!  Both Cynthia and Lotte PRed in the 5k (20:09 and 20:12 respectively), and Kirsten qualified for post-season competition in both the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles.

Also of note:
The Award for Field Athlete of the Meet went to Paige Sarlandt, who PRed in the shot put (10.54m) and competed in the discus for the first time, after just a week of practice.  Each of her attempts was a meter longer than the previous, finishing at 25.05m.
The Award for Track Athlete of the Meet was given to the Distance 4x400, mentioned above.
Finally, the award for Teammate of the Meet went to Abby.  She was unable to compete because of an injury, so she spent the meet cheering on her teammates and helping with warm ups.

We will post pictures soon!  The team competes again this Saturday at AIC in Springfield.