This past Saturday, Amherst women’s track and field kicked off the outdoor season in Medford, Massachusetts at the Snowflake Classic, hosted by Tufts University.

The Mammoths battled on Tufts’ Clarence “Ding” Dussault Track to pick up an 11th-place finish in the 21-team meet, with impressive showings in the sprints and high jump.

The women’s 200-meter dash saw five Amherst harriers line up to race. First-year Sophia Friedman ’21 led the way for the Mammoths, finishing fourth in the 94-person race with a time of 26.63. A little over a second behind Friedman were Sarah Tam ’21 and Isabel Park ’20, logging times of 27.82 and 28.05 seconds to finish 23rd and 26th overall, respectively.

Park also represented the Mammoths as the lone Amherst harrier in the 100-meter dash, notching a time of 13.77 seconds to finish 26th in this race as well.

In the 400-meter dash, Friedman once again led the Mammoths, notching another fourth-place finish in a 54-woman field with a time of 1:00.41. Julia Asin ’19 secured another high finish in the race, clocking in at 1:03.06 for 15th place overall.
The mid-distance races also produced quality marks for the Mammoths. In the 800 meters, Molly Carleton ’19 placed in the top 10, clocking a time of 2:25.10 to earn sixth place. Fellow Amherst runners Grace Haase ’21 and Jenny Mazzella ’20 posted similar marks of 2:32.22 and 2:33.10, respectively, to come in 26th and 28th overall.

Kristin Ratliff ’20 also stood out for Amherst, posting a 4:53.69 mark in the 1,500-meter run to clinch 11th overall in the 91-person race.

Another Mammoth with an impressive outdoor season opener was Olivia Polischeck ’21, who crossed the finish line in 38:52.20 to take fourth place in the 10,000-meter run.

Additionally, the Mammoths performed well in the field events. Katie Siegel ’20 placed second in the high jump after clearing 1.59 meters.

In the triple jump, Emily Flaherty ’19 and Yrenly Yuan ’19 finished back-to-back to earn ninth and 10th with marks of 10.02 and 9.84 meters, respectively. Caroline Ferguson-Dryden ’20 clinched a 10th place mark in the shot put. Sitting at 18th place heading into the final throw, Ferguson-Dryden surpassed her first two attempts by three meters to post a 31.95 meter throw that clinched her top-10 finish.

Ultimately, the combined score across all events gave the Amherst team an 11th-place overall finish in the meet out of 21 teams. The Mammoths will be back in action next weekend on familiar ground, when they host the annual Amherst Spring Fling on Saturday, April 7.