Birmingham, AL – The Williams Women's Track and Field Team competed in Day 1 of the 2023 NCAA DIII Track and Field Indoor Championships on Friday at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Alabama. The Ephs had a strong opening day of competition, marked by multiple personal bests, All-American honors, and a new school record.
Long jump performances by Captain Kristen Chou '23 and Morgan Nasir '25 kicked off the day's competition. Nasir, who currently holds the indoor long jump school-record, placed 4th overall with an impressive mark of 5.69m. This performance earned her the All-American honor. Chou's mark of 5.48m earned her an 11th place finish overall.
The Ephs were successful in the preliminary sprint events of the day. Captain and 60m school-record holder Kiara Tan '23 represented the Ephs in the 60m prelims. Her time of 7.65 seconds earned her an 8th place preliminary finish and secured her a spot in Saturday's finals. In the 400m prelims, Camryn Taylor '24 placed 14th overall with an impressive time of 57.86 seconds. Later on Friday, Captain Kiara Tan '23 returned to the track for the 200m prelims. Her 200m time of 25.15 seconds earned her an 18th place finish in the preliminary round.
Three Ephs competed in the women's mile prelims, each with great performances. Molly Fitzgibbons '24 led the Ephs with her 10th place finish in 4:54.73. Fitzgibbons' strong preliminary race qualified her for Saturday's finals. Blakeley Buckingham '25 finished 15th in the mile prelims with a time of 4:59.03. In the same race, Lucy Gagnon '24 placed 18th in 5:06.18.
Genna Girard '24 and Ella Ball '25 took the 5000m race by storm. Girard's time of 16:40.21 is a new Williams school-record and a personal best for the Eph. This performance secured Genna a 2nd place finish and the All-American honor. In the same event, Ella Ball '25 finished in 16:56.55 and placed 6th. Ball also earned the All-American honor with her 5k performance.
The final event on Friday for the Ephs was the distance medley relay. The team of Captain Lily Wells '23, Camryn Taylor '24, Lucy Gagnon '24, and Molly Fitzgibbons '24 placed 11th with a time of 11:58.37.
After an exciting first day of competition, the Ephs are excited to move on to Saturday's races. After scoring in 6 of the weekend's 17 events, the Williams Women's Track and Field Team stands in 5th place with 16 points. On Saturday, many will compete in their final events of the indoor season for the coveted All-American honors.
