NEW HAVEN, Conn. – After announcing a 12 meet regular season schedule the University of New Haven Women's Track and field team opened up their season taking the short drive to Southern Connecticut State to compete at the Elm City Challenge before splitting the team and sending half to Boston to compete at the Suffolk Relays at the Reggie Lewis Center.
Diana Zamudio (Huacho, Peru/Instituto Particular Abdon Calderon (Ecuador)) took home the first win for the blue and gold in the high jump. Zamudio needed no warmup heights as she entered at 1.45 meters passing the three previous marks. Zamudio cleared the mark of 1.45 on her first jump, locking in the win for herself and for New Haven.
In the weight throw, Elise Dodel (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) took home the Chargers second win of the meet. Coming out hot with an opening throw of 13.66 meters, Doodle saved her best for last. With the mark of 13.66 as her best at the time on her very last throw Dodel left it all out there and it was worth it landing a throw of 14.29 meters moving her into first place and winning the event.
In Boston, Gabrielle Teel () took home first place in the triple jump. After an opening jump of 10.45 meters, Teel found her stride on her second jump reaching the mark of 11.00 meters. Teel was consistent with her jumps staying close to her mark and finished with her mark of 11.00 meters being her best and that being the best mark of the meet to finish first for the Chargers.
In the 800 meter Ashley Jones (Dover, Del./Dover) led the way for New Haven finishing in second place crossing with a time of 2:52.63 seconds.
The blue and gold finished second and third in the women's mile with Da-Xia Colon beating out teammate Elsie Kaas () in the event. Colon crossed with a time of 6:06.64 seconds finishing second just ahead of Kaas who crossed with a time of 6:09.04 to take home third for the blue and gold.
In the sand pit, Kristen Washington (New Haven, Conn./James Hillhouse) looked to start off just where she left off last season and did just that. With an opening jump of 5.37 meters, Washington moved up the leaderboard on her fourth jump, jumping 5.43 meters locking in second place for her in the meet.
In the field, Molly Clark () finished second in Pole Vault for New Haven. After passing on the first two heights, Clark went down to the wire clearing 2.45 meters on her third attempt. Moving up to 2.60 meters, Clark wasted no time clearing it on her first attempt, moving the height to 2.75. Clark narrowly missed clearing 2.75 on her third attempt finishing her second with a mark of 2.60 meters.
Continuing in the field, Simone Motley () let it fly in shot put finishing third with a mark of 11.22 meters. Competing in her first meet for the Chargers, Motley came out throwing with a first mark of 10.52 meters. She stayed close to that mark before her fourth throw beat all her previous throws with a mark of 11.22 setting a new personal record for the freshmen. That throw finished her in third for the meet.
Closing out the meet the Women's Distance Medley team, finished in second place. The team of Elsie Kaas (), Deja Harris (), Jennifer Torres and Isabella Bostic (/) crossed with a time of 14:24.28 finishing with the second best time.
Overall the Chargers won three events across the two meets and finished with 85 points finishing third overall in the meet. The Blue and Gold look to repeat their success of this week when the team travels to two meets next week, first traveling up to Middletown to compete at the Wesleyan Mini Quad Meet on Friday December 9, before the team travels again on Saturday December 10 when they are back in Boston Competing at the Beacon Invitational. All updates, schedules and post meet recaps for the team will be available at Newhavenchargers.com.
