Girls rule, Boys drool

Devin Smith ‘16 walked away from her Indoor Championship run exhausted and a little confused. 

“That’s never happened to me before. I’ve never tied a race to the third decimal place,” she said. “They examined the photo-finish and everything.” 

Smith was the Patriot League Champion in the 400-meter run, but she had to share the title. Colgate’s Alicia Millena also got a first place trophy after tying Smith with a time of 57.32. “It’s a little different, but I was still so excited to be a champion.”

Pole-vaulter Elise Buffinton ‘14 joined Smith as a League champion. Buffinton continued her stellar season by winning the pole vault, clearing the bar at 12’ 3.5” Both Smith and Buffinton were given First Team All-Patriot League honors. 

Buffinton closed a monumental season, where she set a new school record and won nearly every meet she entered. But she didn’t let the success go to her head. 

 “I wanted to go into the meet with confidence but also knowing that on any given day, there are many other pole vaulters in the league that could do just as well as me,” Buffinton said. “That is why I tried to focus on only controlling the things that I could and letting everything else go.”

Rachel Pena ‘14 was another top female finisher. Pena finished second in the weight throw, while Brittany Powell ‘15 finished second in the triple jump. Sally Trout ‘16 ran away with fourth place in the 60 meter hurdles. Despite the championship efforts from Smith and Buffinton, the women finished sixth out of seven teams.

Chris Parker ‘13 led the way for the men, finishing third in the 800-meter run. The men as a whole, however,  finished sixth out of the eight squads competing at West Point. They finished with 15 points at the Championship meet, a full 189.5 points behind champion Navy. The y did manage to snag sixth as a unit, beating out Colgate, who scored 14 points, and Holy Cross, who finished in last place with 5.50 points overall.

Those who qualified are headed to Boston March 2 for the ECAC Championship meet.