CMS Women's Track and Field Opens Season with Strong Showing at OIDFE Challenge

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Laura Zimmer (1000 meters), Natalie Bitetti (mile), and Madeline Seifert (pole vault) took individual wins as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's track and field team opened up the 2024 season at home at the OIDFE Challenge.

Team scores weren't officially kept, although CMS would have finished with 198.50 points using a traditional scoring system, with Vanguard second with 150.50. 

Zimmer took the win in the 1000 in the first track event of the day, just edging Riley Capuano 2:57.15 to 2:58.12. Bitetti led a dominant effort from the Athenas in the mile as CMS took all eight scoring positions, as she finished in 5:03.73, a margin of victory of over 20 seconds. Angela Gushue was second, followed by Jamie Habib in third. 

Zimmer almost made it two wins in the 600 meters, but she finished just under one second behind Suzie Johnson of The Master's (1:37.77 to 1:38.68) with Sally Gaskell in third in 1:39.54.

Seifert was in a two-person competition in the pole vault, and earned the top spot by clearing 3.5 meters, to edge out Paloma Baumert of Jessup. 

Josephine Jett had a strong showing in her first collegiate event with three second-place finishes, breaking 8 seconds in the 60-yard dash in 7.97 seconds, behind only Jordyn Burke of Vanguard (7.68). She was also second in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.03 seconds behind Erica Waseq of Jessup (8.85), and second in the 200 meters (26.73), just two-hundredths of a second behind Raelyn DeWitt of Vanguard in 26.71. Shriya Velichala came in third in 26.96 as well.

Gushue, Habib, and Kaya Hano were second through fourth in the 800 meters and Sara Wexler came in third in the 3000 in 10:29.73.  

In the field events, Georgia Rogers was second in the high jump and Simone Rogers third, with both clearing 1.52 meters (4'11.75"). Georgia Rogers was fourth in the long jump, and Eleanor Champlin-Wilson was fourth in the shot put at 35'3.75" (10.76 meters). 

CMS will be back in action when several athletes compete in indoor events on Feb. 9-10 at the Whitworth Invitational and the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational. The Athenas will next compete as a team at the Pomona-Pitzer All-Comers Meet on Feb. 17, followed by the Rossi Relays at home on Feb. 24.