Women’s Track Keeps Improving Down the Stretch

Last weekend the women’s track and field team traveled to Bucknell University in order to compete in the Bison Invitational. The two-day meet included 13 different teams. The women from Colgate performed well, posting several career-best and season-best performances.

“We were happy with the way some of the women are coming along,” women’s head coach Laura Nardelli said. “The 4X100 is looking good, and Michelle Miller is running faster.”

First-year Michelle Miller, an athlete who has performed consistently well throughout the year, did not disappoint this week. On the second day of the meet, she clocked a pair of season-best times – 25.30 and 58.91 in the 200 and 400-meter dashes respectively. Miller finished fourth in the 200 and sixth in the 400. The latter time ranks fifth all-time at Colgate.

The Raiders also pulled off a great performance in the 4X100-meter relay race. The team that ran in that competition consisted of junior Ashley Mecone, junior Curry Knox, sophomore Ashley Niness and Miller. The quartet completed the race in 49.02, stealing second place. First-year Kristen Meisner is also worthy of a mention. Competing in the first three events of the heptathlon for the first time in her career, she finished seventh of eleven, but second among Patriot League athletes running in the race. Meisner also ran a season best in the 100-meter hurdles.

“Kristen Meisner was our athlete of the week,” Nardelli said. “She is looking like a strong multi-event athlete for us…even though she is just a freshman.”

To round off the great performances, Mecone ran a lifetime best time in the 200-meter dash, and sophomore Sarah Chabal posted a season-best mark in the long jump.

On Saturday, Colgate will compete in its final regular-season meet of the year at the Moravian Invitational.

“We want to keep developing in the closing weeks,” Nardelli said. “I feel that we’re a very young team. We graduated five very experienced leaders last year and now we are leaning on our younger athletes more. We broke a lot of records, and that’s what you have to look at – are you getting better than before? The answer is yes.”