By Gina Morrone ’14 & Michael Kelley ’14

Photo by Sami Meyerson ’15

In the final meet of the indoor track season this past weekend, qualifying athletes from the men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in either the ECAC or IC4A Championships in Boston.

At the ECAC Championship, Elise Buffinton ‘14 shined again in the pole vault competition. She broke her own Lafayette record by leaping 12′ 1″, earning herself a top ten finish. This jump is 6 and 3/4″ higher than Daria Szkwarko’s ‘06 previous record of 11′ 5 1/4″.Buffinton has broken the record multiple times throughout the season.

Joelle Neilson ‘12 continued her stellar season by finishing tenth in the long jump with a jump of 18′ 6″. In the triple jump, her 11.83-meter leap was good enough for twelfth. In the outdoor season, Neilson will once again be a top contender in the jumping events. She is currently the school record holder and reigning Patriot League Champion in the triple jump.

Two other women, Rachel Pena ‘14 and Gwen Steckel ‘13 performed in the 20-pound weight throw, finishing 30th and34th, respectively.

In the IC4A championships, Jerome Rudolph ‘12 ran 6.97 seconds in the 60-meter dash, finishing twelfth in the semifinal heat. The winner’s time was 6.78 sentences Will Volkmann ‘13 competed in the 5000-meter run, but was unable to finish the race.

Chris Parker ‘13 set a new personal best in the 800m with a time of 1:52.33. The time placed Parker fourteenth overall. Nick Henderson ‘12 placed 13th in the pole vault with a vault of 15′ 9″.

The 4x800m team of Chris Pregler ‘12, Matt Piazza ‘12, Dayne Mosconi ‘13, and Derrick Hargwood ‘14 finished in 7:39.12, the second best time in school history.

Nick Hepp ‘13, Ryan McVeigh ‘13, Nick DeRosa ‘12, and Billy Leonard ’14 ran 3:19.80 in the 4x400m race.

The team will travel to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina for the week of spring break, competing in a meet down there before hosting the annual 7-way Meet on March 31st at the Metzgar Athletic Complex.