The Middlebury women's track and field team posted several strong performances at the UMass Commonwealth Invitational on Saturday. The squad collected one event victory, six top-three efforts and numerous top-10 placements at a meet featuring schools from all three NCAA divisions and other institutions.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Panthers placed five inside the top 10 in the 5,000-meter run. Claire Palmer led the field in her collegiate appearance in the event, stopping the clock at 16:51.87 to surpass the runner-up by over 10 seconds. Naomi Gomel (18:10.62), Lucca Franz (18:10.85), Josie Dolan (18:11.22) and Victoria Fawcett (18:12.77) took the six through nine slots, respectively, and set new personal bests in the race.
• Grace Kaelber secured second place in the 3,000 steeplechase, crossing the finish line with a time of 10:44.34. Shea Fajen finished fourth at 11:14.65, while Cate Kreutzen grabbed ninth with a clocking of 12:06.28.
• In the 400, Ella Pate posted a runner-up performance of 57.90 seconds.
• Lily Bulczynski collected a second-place time of 2:16.22 in the 800, finishing 0.29 seconds behind Northeastern's Lauren Trejo.
• The 4x100 relay quartet of Katie Bruno, Melissa White, Jazmyn Hurley and Olive Lawrence slotted second, stopping the clock in 47.73 seconds.
• Mary Elliot, Anna Mazur, Hurley and Pate combined to take third in the 4x400 relay, crossing the finish line at 3:56.56.
• Lawrence blazed to a new school record in the 100, finishing fifth with a clocking of  12.02 seconds.
• Lily Haskins-Vaughan matched Brown's Rosa Volpintesta for the second-highest clearance in the high jump at 1.61m to claim fifth.
• MK Cestaro logged an effort of 4:40.68 to take sixth place in the 1,500.
• In the 400 hurdles, Mazur took sixth with a time of 1:04.41.
• An eighth-place finish awaited Lilly Wurtz in the shot put, who moved the implement 12.35 meters on her third attempt. Julia Tulimieri carved out a top-10 spot with an effort of 11.97m.
• Tulimieri also claimed eighth in the hammer throw with a 45.47m toss.
• Melissa White claimed ninth in the 200, crossing the line in 25.68 seconds.
• Gabriella Gerig soared 10.83m in the triple jump to secure ninth.
• Helen Moak lifted herself over the bar at 3.21m on her first attempt, earning a ninth-place finish and personal best in the pole vault.
• Wurtz hurled the discus 39.73m to place 10th.

NOTES

• Lawrence shaved nine-hundredths of a second off the school mark she established at the Amherst Spring Fling (12.11s).
• The 4x100 grouping clocked in one-tenth of a second shy of the program record.

The Panthers return to Vermont for the Middlebury Invitational on Saturday, where they will honor their senior members before the meet. Action gets underway at 11:00 a.m. from the Allan Dragone Track & Field Complex.