BOSTON (February 24, 2023) -- The Tufts University women's track and field squad finished the opening day of action at the 2023 New England Track and Field Championships in second place, as competition started Friday at The TRACK at New Balance.
The Jumbos got a huge performance from
Lia Rotti in the long jump, as she crushed her previous personal-best of 5.66 meters with a new meet and school record leap of 5.90 meters to earn the victory. The jump sits as the best in Division III, edging Johns Hopkins' Victoria Kadiri's mark of 5.89 meters
Rotti wasn't the only one to score for the Jumbos, as
Jordan Andrew finished third overall with a 5.62 meter leap to earn six points. The 60 meter hurdles was another big event for Tufts, as
Sarah Pillone ran a personal-best time of 8.90 seconds to win her heat, while qualifying third for Saturday's final. The time was the third-fastest in program history, and tied for 24th best in the country this season.
First-year
Teghan Sydnor will join Pillone in the final after running a 9.20, while
Maddy Silveira also qualified for the final with a time of 9.29 seconds. In the pole vault,
Sarah Firth took runner-up honors after posting a height of 3.73 meters to earn eight points. Rotti also scored for Tufts in the pole vault, finishing seventh with a 3.48 meter mark.
In the distance medley relay, Tufts contingent of
Elizabeth Donahue,
Rose Kitz,
Cora Kakalec and
Samantha Fellman ran a time of 12:33.78 to earn seventh and pick up two points. The 4x200 meter relay saw the Jumbos finish sixth overall with a time of 1:45.36, thanks to the
Anne-Sophie Janssen,
Annika Kral,
Emma Smith and Sydnor.
In the pentathlon, Silveira took third overall with a new personal-best score of 3169, which ranks No. 16 in the nation. The point total was the third-best in program history, as she finished with a 9.32 in the 60 hurdles to take second.
Silveira was fourth in the high jump with a new PR of 1.51 meters, while finishing third in the long jump with a mark of 5.05 meters. She would finish the fifth event, the 800 meter run, with a victory as she ran a 2:27.26 for 728 points.
The Jumbos has 37 points after the first day of action, trailing only Williams College and its 55.33 points. Middlebury College is right behind Tufts with 31.33 points. Action begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday with the throwing events, and continues all day at The TRACK at New Balance.
--JUMBOS--
