Becca Durham moves into ninth place all-time in program history with her win last weekend. PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
Although the Rams were unable to leave Roxbury, MA with a New England title, the University of Rhode Island Women’s Track and Field Team left the weekend with new personal bests and hopeful aspirations for several important upcoming events.
URI was joined in South Boston by 19 schools, including in-state rival Bryant University and fellow Atlantic 10 school UMass Amherst, who placed second. However, it was Quinnipiac University that took first place with 134 points throughout the weekend.
The Rams fell just short of the top 3, finishing in fourth place behind multiple impressive performances across a wide array of events.
Bethany DeLoof’s weekend performance was one to remember, as she captured her first individual New England title, winning the 500 meters with a time of 1:14:89. Winning independently was no small feat for DeLoof.
“To win on my own and accomplish that for myself after all the training and hard work –– that was definitely one of my goals,” she said.
Her time ranks second in the Atlantic 10 and 25th nationally. Despite this, DeLoof is still not satisfied.
“I definitely still want to run faster than that,” DeLoof said, adding later that “it is a good place to be right now, but I have more that I want to accomplish.”
DeLoof was not done there. She also was a part of the 4×400 relay team that finished second with a time of 3:51.92. DeLoof was joined by Trinity Smith, Xiana Twombly, and Hannah Birdsall in the race, which they finished behind Quinnipiac.
Having a strong veteran presence like DeLoof is always helpful for a team’s success, according to Rhode Island Women’s Track and Field Coach Laurie Feit-Melnick.
“She brings a lot of experience,” Feit-Melnick said. “It’s wonderful that Bethany is a part of our team and she’s a wonderful student-athlete.”
Becca Durham also finished first by five-hundredths of second in the 1000 meters with a time of 2.54.90, ninth-best in program history. Durham’s win was another highlight of the weekend for the Rams. Feit-Melnick was ecstatic about her win.
“It was phenomenal, I’m so proud of her,” Feit-Melnick said.
Durham ran her preliminary 1000 meter with ease, finishing with a 2:57:55 time, a personal best. Feit-Melnick said this run almost looked effortless.
“It looked like she was jogging,” Feit-Melnick said.
Other notable performances from URI include Olivia Fetherson, who placed second in the high jump, with a collegiate-best jump of 1.65 meters. Xiana Twombly finished second in the long jump with a launch of 5.65 meters.
Corina Vidal tallied a collegiate-best time of 2:59:07 in the 1000 meter preliminary race, which helped her advance to the final where she finished sixth. Sabrina Charon also advanced to the 1000 meter final with a personal-best of her own, a final time of 3:00:40. She would end up finishing fourth in the final.
The Rams will travel to Boston for the fourth time this year to compete in the BU Valentine Invitational this Friday at 2 p.m. They hope for similar production and even better results.