The Amherst women’s indoor track and field team sent Katherine Treanor ’20, Abbey Asare-Bediako ’18 and Kiana Herold ’17 to compete at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships on March 10-11. Held at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, the meet marked the final competition of the indoor season for the purple and white.

Competing on the track for Amherst was Treanor, the only first-year to qualify for the 5,000-meter run. She was seeded No. 15 with a time of 17:20.43, but beat this time by an impressive 8 seconds, running a 17:12.73. Her showing earned her an 11th-place finish, with Taryn Cordani of Ithaca College winning the event with a time of 16:28.15.

Meanwhile, Asare-Bediako and Herold competed in the long jump and high jump, respectively. Asare-Bediako jumped 11.29 meters, garnering her a strong 16th-place finish. The winning jump was 12.64 meters from Alex Wandy of SUNY Geneseo.

“Going to nationals was an opportunity that I didn’t really think would happen.” Asare-Bediako said. “It was amazing to see my teammates compete and do so well.”

Herold wrapped up a standout senior indoor season by placing 9th in the high jump with a leap of 1.69 meters. The jump earned her a place in the top-10 despite being the 16th seed. Herold was one of seven jumpers to jump 1.69 meters, but finished 9th because she missed her first attempt at 1.65. Cirrus Robinson of Ohio Wesleyan took the gold in the event with a height of 1.72m.

“[The] level of competition at nationals is inspiring,” Herold said. “The high jump field was the strongest it’s been in four years at Amherst.”

While the 2017 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship meet wraps up the purple and white’s indoor season, they have plenty of competition in the coming months as the outdoor season gets underway. The purple and white kick off their outdoor season on Saturday, April 1 at the Tufts Snowflake Invitational, and will hopefully continue upon their indoor success.