Spring Break
INDOOR TRACK: Sax, Alford lead women's squad to a home victory
by Melissa Siegel
Staff writer
Sports | 1/22/08
Posted online at 12:46 AM EST on 1/22/08
/ Last updated at 11:54 AM EST on 1/22/08
As fans shuffled in and out of the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center last Saturday, the women's indoor track team was ensuring those cheering for them would leave happy.
Led by multiple event wins from jumper Ali Sax '09 and captain sprinter Olivia Alford '08, the women's team finished first out of 10 teams at the Reggie Poyau Memorial Invitational with 183.5 points, 56.5 points better than second-place Amherst College. Meanwhile, the men's team finished fourth out of 11 teams with 103.33 points, less than one point shy of third-place Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
"It's our only home meet, and it's early in the season, so there's not a lot of pressure," Alford said. "We just try to have fun, enjoy having fans out to support us."
This was the fifth incarnation of the event, named for a former Brandeis runner who drowned while studying abroad in Africa in 2003. The women's team last won the meet in 2006.
The women's team won eight of the 19 events en route to victory. Sax, who last week was named Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Field Athlete of the Week for her three-win performance at the Bowdoin College Invitational Jan. 12, continued her momentum into this week, winning the triple jump with a leap of 10.84 meters and the long jump with a leap of 4.96 meters.
"I've been training really hard with coach, [and] I think I was just more rested," Sax said.
Alford won both the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes with times of 26.92 seconds and 1:00.98, respectively, even while claiming she wasn't prepared to run her fastest in the 400-meter event.
"The 200 is a lot easier than the 400 for me right now in the season," she said. "I'm not quite in shape to run my best time in the 400 yet."
Fellow captain Sandra Canuto '08 picked up a victory in the 55-meter dash in 7.69 seconds despite only tying for third place in the preliminary round, while Marie Lemay '11 followed up her 800-meter win last weekend with a victory in the 1000-meter run. Suzanne Bernier '10 allowed the Judges to sweep the jumping events, leaping a personal-best 1.60 meters with to win the highjump.
Led by multiple event wins from jumper Ali Sax '09 and captain sprinter Olivia Alford '08, the women's team finished first out of 10 teams at the Reggie Poyau Memorial Invitational with 183.5 points, 56.5 points better than second-place Amherst College. Meanwhile, the men's team finished fourth out of 11 teams with 103.33 points, less than one point shy of third-place Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
"It's our only home meet, and it's early in the season, so there's not a lot of pressure," Alford said. "We just try to have fun, enjoy having fans out to support us."
This was the fifth incarnation of the event, named for a former Brandeis runner who drowned while studying abroad in Africa in 2003. The women's team last won the meet in 2006.
The women's team won eight of the 19 events en route to victory. Sax, who last week was named Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Field Athlete of the Week for her three-win performance at the Bowdoin College Invitational Jan. 12, continued her momentum into this week, winning the triple jump with a leap of 10.84 meters and the long jump with a leap of 4.96 meters.
"I've been training really hard with coach, [and] I think I was just more rested," Sax said.
Alford won both the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes with times of 26.92 seconds and 1:00.98, respectively, even while claiming she wasn't prepared to run her fastest in the 400-meter event.
"The 200 is a lot easier than the 400 for me right now in the season," she said. "I'm not quite in shape to run my best time in the 400 yet."
Fellow captain Sandra Canuto '08 picked up a victory in the 55-meter dash in 7.69 seconds despite only tying for third place in the preliminary round, while Marie Lemay '11 followed up her 800-meter win last weekend with a victory in the 1000-meter run. Suzanne Bernier '10 allowed the Judges to sweep the jumping events, leaping a personal-best 1.60 meters with to win the highjump.
Be the first to comment on this story