Lotte Black and the women’s track and field team traveled to UMass this past weekend to compete in the Minutemen Invitational. |Photo courtesy of Michaela Benford.
This past weekend, Rhode Island women’s track and field finished third out of 10 teams at the Minuteman Invitational, hosted by the University of Massachusetts.
Three Rams came away with individual wins in Amherst on April 6, with Molly Botts winning the Hammer Throw with a distance of 50.39 meters, Ashley Evans winning the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 11:48.14 and Leah Wolf winning the javelin with a throw of 42.40 meters.
Rhody swept the podium in the hammer throw as well. Along with the victory by Botts, Samantha Andrews finished second with a distance of 50.22 meters, and Nicole Valdez was third with a distance of 49.74 meters.
The 4×100 meter relay team that includes Hasna Badji, Xiana Twombly, Lexi Luna and Carleisha Forteau took third with a time of 48.02 seconds. In-state rival Brown won the event with a time of 45.91 seconds.
In the 400 meter Rhody had two top five finishers, with Kelly MacDonnell earning third place with a time of 56.52 seconds, and Bethany DeLoof earning a fifth place finish with a time of 56.74 seconds. Emilie Cowan of UMass won the event with a time of 54.74 seconds.
Samantha Andrews finished at third place in the discus with a throw of 39.81 meters. The winner of that event was Priscilla Senoo, who took first with a throw of 40.83 meters.
Trinity Smith was another Ram with a top five finish, as she was able to finish fourth in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.20. Winning the 400 meter hurdles was Danielle Okonta of Dartmouth with a time of 1:02.80. Hasna Badji of Rhode Island finished sixth with a time of 1:05.86.
Rhode Island relay teams did well at the Minuteman Invitational. Along with the third place finish of the 4×100 meter relay team, the 4×400 meter relay team that included Hasna Badji, Gabrielle Curtis, Trinity Smith and Bethany DeLoof finished third with a time of 3:55.51.
In the 100 meter dash, Lexi Luna finished fifth with a time of 12.67 seconds, with teammate Xiana Twombly right behind her in sixth place with a time of 12.77 seconds.
In the pole vault Jessica Ippolitto finished fourth with a height of 3.40 meters.
In the 200 meter Carleisha Forteau finished fifth with a time of 25.65 seconds, with the winner being Lindsay Watt of UMass, with a time of 24.68.
The Rams now look forward to the SCSU Northeast Combined Events Challenge, which takes place in New Haven, Connecticut on April 11 and 12.