La Crosse, Wis. — Williams College Track & Field teams opened competition Thursday at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a strong first day of performances, highlighted by multiple All-America finishes and several athletes advancing to Saturday's finals.
The National Championship meet began Thursday and will continue through Saturday, May 23rd.
Ellie Fitzgerald got the Ephs on the board early in the field events, earning a sixth-place finish in the pole vault after clearing 3.95 meters to secure All-America honors.
First-year, Eliza Ayres earned Second Team All-America honors after finishing in 16th place in the women's long jump with a mark of 5.56m.
On the track, Kate Tuttle delivered one of the top performances of the day in the women's 1500m preliminaries. Tuttle cruised into Saturday's final with a personal-best and school-record time of 4:24.36.
Keiyu Mamiya also punched his ticket to the national final in the men's 1500m, qualifying with a time of 3:48.84 in the prelims.
In the steeplechase, Charlene Peng advanced to the women's final after running a personal-best 10:29.55. On the men's side, Henry Alexander narrowly missed qualification, finishing just two seconds outside the cutoff with a time of 9:09.81.
Williams also saw success in the relay events, as the women's 4x400 relay team of Cate Donaldson, Ella Sukup, Claire Jensen, and Bella King-Harvey advanced comfortably to Saturday's final after placing second in the preliminaries with a time of 3:45.04.
The night concluded with the women's 10,000m, where Kate Swann earned a sixth-place finish in 34:48.20 to collect All-America honors. Tamar Byl also represented the Ephs in the event, placing 17th with a time of 35:39.06.
The Ephs continue competition tomorrow begin at 4:20 p.m. with the women's 800m prelims, followed by the men's 800m prelims.
