WHITTIER, Calif. (Apr.30, 2022) – The women's track and field team kicked off Day 1 of SCIAC Championships with four new records and two podium finishes on Saturday evening.
The day started with field events where sophomore Meg Robertson (Nashville, Tenn. / Harpeth Hall) and freshmen Emily Hu (Vancouver, B.C. / Crofton House School) and Rucheng Pan (Brookfield, Wisc. / Brookfield East) represented the Beavers. In the hammer throw, Robertson placed 6th overall with a 38.87m throw, while Pan placed 18th with her throw of 16.25m. Later in discus, Robertson took 14th place with a 28.31m throw. Hu and Pan took 21st and 23rd in the event with throws of 22.34m and 20.99m respectively. The three Beavers will take the field this afternoon as they participate in women's shot put on Day 2 of the championships.
The women's track events started with the 1500m Run preliminaries. Graduate student Margaret Trautner (Houston, Texas / MIT) led the Beavers in this event with her 2nd place finish at 4:58.71, ranking 10th on Caltech's all-time leaderboard. Junior Lauren Garriques (Lake Forest, Ill. / Lake Forest) was the next Beaver to cross the finish line, taking 11th place overall at 5:07.62. Trautner and Garriques will continue to represent the Beavers in the 1500m final this afternoon, starting at 3:50 pm. Also participating in the women's 1500m prelims was sophomore Alex Burr (Chicago, Ill. / Whitney Young) who placed 16th with a 5:16.42 finish, breaking their previous PR of 5:22.15 from SCIAC Multi Dual 3. Additionally, senior Alex Bardon (Boston, Mass. / Winsor School) took 21st at 5:22.56, while sophomore Katy Chu (San Jose, Calif. / Saint Francis) finished 24th at 5:29.11. Closing out the 1500m Run for the Beavers was graduate student Lauren Conger (Tuscon, Ariz. / Cornell) and senior Jamie Litman (Port Washington, N.Y. / Paul D. Schreiber), placing 31st and 36th with 5:56.03 and 6:19.35 finishes respectively.
Following the 1500m Run, Isabela Ceniceros (Mukilteo, Wash. / Kamiak) represented the Beavers in the 100m Dash preliminaries. The freshman placed 18th overall with a dash time of 13.78 that tied Tencia Lee (2007) for the tenth-ranked spot on Caltech's leaderboard. Moreover, Ceniceros' performance broke her previous PR of 13.83, set at SCIAC Multi Dual 2 in March.
After the 100m Dash, Trautner and Burr took on the 800m Run preliminaries. With a 2:19.40 finish that ranks 2nd on the Caltech leaderboard, Trautner took 2nd place and secured a spot in this evening's finals at 5:00 pm. Although Burr did not qualify for finals, the sophomore still had a strong finish with a 2:41.15 runtime that placed 25th overall.
Later in the 200m Dash, freshman Lily Randall (Astoria, Ore. / Astoria) took 15th place with a 27.54 sprint that ranks 7th on the Caltech leaderboard, breaking her previous PR of 27.55 from SCIAC Multi Dual 2. Ceniceros also represented her team in the 200m Dash and placed 19th with a 28.13 finish.
Closing out Day 1 for the women's track and field team was senior Claire Hu (Palo Alto, Calif. / Henry M. Gunn) and freshman Sophia Dalfonzo (Fair Haven, N.J. / Biotechnology & Rumson-Fair Regional), who both secured podium finishes in the women's 10000m Run. After an incredible race, Hu took 2nd place overall with a new season best of 38:04.27, ranking 2nd on the Caltech's all-time leaderboard. Dalfonzo, running the 10000m for the first time this season, took 3rd place with a 38:10.84 finish, ranking 3rd on Caltech's leaderboard.
At the end of Day 1, the women's track and field team sits in 4th place with 17 points. Head Coach Kelli Blake and the Beavers return to Whittier College this afternoon and are slated to participate in the women's shot put, pole vault, 4x100m relay, 1500m finals, 800m finals, 5000m finals, and 4x400m relay. Visit GoCaltech.com for the event's livestream, live stats and results.
