Seniors Danielle Griffin and Leonie Rauls led the Amherst women’s track and field squad to an impressive fourth-place finish this weekend at the Branwen Smith-King Invitational. Tufts played host to 16 of the country’s top Division III competitors, and Amherst continued their dominant season with a score of 77.33 total points, finishing just behind Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Wesleyan and Stonehill College.
Griffin continued a standout senior season in the one-mile event, needing a photo-finish with a 5:08.83 time to take first place by less than a second. Finishing with the Mammoths’ second overall victory of the day, Rauls led the pack in the 1,000-meter race to cross the line in 3:01.81, nearly two seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. Alongside Rauls’ top finish were Sarah Gayer ’21 and Adele Loomis ’18, who took third and fifth place in the event.
Continuing the strong showings in the mid-distance events, junior Christina Scartelli claimed a solid fourth place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:24.68, while first-year Grace Haase and sophomore Jenny Mazzella took sixth and seventh. Rounding out the dominant senior runners, Kaeli Mathias paced the Mammoths in the 600 meters, claiming fifth overall with a 1:45:14 mark.
Moving into the sprint events, Julia Asin ’19 and Jordan Rhodeman ’21 finished back-to-back in the 400-meter dash to place 10th and 11th with times of 1:03.63 and 1:03.87. First-year Sophia Friedman earned the Mammoths extra points in the 65-woman, 200-meter dash by finishing 13th with a time of 27.73.
Finally, first-year Ella Rossa impressed in the 60-meter hurdles event once again, placing second in the 30-woman race with a time of 9.08 seconds, just shy of her record-breaking time from the Smith Invitational two weeks ago.
In the field events, the duo of Becki Golia ’18 and Rossa added a pair of second place finishes in the high jump and the long jump.
The Mammoths return to action next weekend when they return to Tufts for the annual Cupid Challenge on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 10 a.m.