On a mild day in Boston, the Raiders had strong performances at the indoor venue at Boston University in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational. In a meet where the crowd witnessed American and Canadian records respectively fall in the women's elite 5000 meters, the competition was quite stiff in all of the events. On day one of the meet, the women competed in their individual events and the men in just the distance medley relay.  Day two on Saturday will feature the men's individual events and the women's distance medley relay.
 
Elizabeth Driscoll continued in her record setting ways as she raised the bar higher again in the pole vault with a vault of 3.15 meters (10' 4") to improve upon her own school record.  Rachel Schaff jumped her season best in the triple jump with a leap of 11.64 meters (38' 2  ¼" ) to place 7^th overall and she doubled back in the long jump placing 22^nd with her jump of 5.15 meters (16 10 ¾). Dominique Groguhe and Maya LaRosiliere both tossed season bests in the weight throw with Groguhe placing 16^th with a throw of 14.60 meters (47' 11") and LaRosiliere reaching 12.85 meters (42' 2") for 26^th place. Groguhe also contested the shot put and finished 21^st in 11.13 meters (36' 6 ¼).
 
In the morning session of the meet, our sprinters took to the track and both ran their personal bests in their respective events. Katie Caracciolo ran 1:03.26 in the 400 meters and Isabella Cunio ran a 27.38 in the one lap race of the 200 meters and doubled in the 60 meters in 8.40 seconds. 
 
The longer distance races were contested in the evening session of the meet. First, in the 800 meters, both Raiders improved their personal bests by over four seconds with each winning their respective heats. Carollin Mellin ran a 2:19.83 and Maria Laverde ran a 2:23.44. Next up was the one mile run where Emma Pizer improved her lifetime best with her performance of 5:21.68. To close out the night for the women, in the last race of the evening, Sophia Manners ran a very smart race and demolished her previous best indoor time by two minutes when she ran 17:10.75.
 
The only men's event of the day was the distance medley relay where the Colgate men finished in a time of 10:59.15. The team was led off by William Crounse in the 1200 meters, Nate Rindfuss in the 400 meters, Zach Williams in the 800 and anchoring in the mile was Owen Holland.
 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Harlis Meaders
"Our first day in Boston was great. This was both the largest field of athletes that we have competed against and the highest level of competition. We talked with the team about the importance of not becoming "fans" and simply watching the other athletes compete. We talked about the importance of staying focused on the things that we needed to achieve and it showed in the results. We were able to be at our very best in a very competitive environment this week. Our kids found a way to excel and personal records continued to be shattered this weekend. We are reaching our best performances at the right time of the season."
 
UP NEXT
Saturday's Boston meet will focus on the men's events and also include the quartet of Sohia Manners, Maria Laverde, Carollin Mellin and Katie Caracciolo return to the oval to race the distance medley relay for the women.  The meet starts at 9:00 am.