The men's and women's track and field teams took part in the Yellow Jacket Invitational hosted by American International College under cold and windy conditions on Saturday. The squads came away with some impressive solo finishes, even though overall the teams had mixed results.

The men finished with just 0.5 points earned in the high jump. Mark Franklin '17 tied for ninth place with a jump of 1.73 meters. The women fared slightly better, finishing in 14th place with a total of 18 points.

The 18 points all came in the 1500-meter run as the Judges took first and second in the race. Kelsey Whitaker '16 and Amelia Lundkvist '14 took the top two spots with times of four minutes, 41.39 seconds and 4:45.98 respectively. Maggie Hensel '16 and Maddie Dolins '17 also managed to finish in the top 25.

Hensel placed 19th overall in the race with a time of 5:03.40, a drop behind her time of 4:55.00 she recording during the seeding race. Dolins finished the race in 22nd out of the 91 competitors with a time of 5:04.76 in the finals.

Whitaker felt that it was important to get her first race of the spring season out of the way and she tempered her expectations coming into the race.

"Since it was the first race of the season, the main goal was to just get the first outdoor race out of the way and to establish a starting point for the season," she said. "The plan was to just run with the top pack and finish strong. I knew I could stay with the front runners but I did not go into the race expecting to win."

The women only competed in one other event on the day-the javelin throw.

Ashley Klein '16 finished in 13th place with a throw of 28.55 meters while Selena Livas '17 was right behind her in 20th place with a throw of 19.73 meters.

Whitaker said that she hopes to continue her success as the spring season moves on.

"I'm excited for the rest of this season," she continued. "I am hoping that we can perform well as a team at [the University Athletic Association Championships].

"Individually, I hope to continue improving my performances and hopefully qualify for NCAA's again with my teammates."

The men came into the day with more competitors than the women but finished with some mixed results.

Much like the women, the men's best event was the 1500 -meter run. Grady Ward '16 finished in 16th place overall out of 84 competitors with a time of 4:06.59, and Quinton Hoey '17 snuck right behind him and into the top 20 with a time of 4:07.88.

Matt Doran '17 also competed in the event, finishing in 42nd place with a time of 4:16.95.

Both Ward and Hoey ran the prelimanry round in 4:05:00 flat, though the pair could not match their time in the final round.

In the 200 and 400-meter dashes, a promising pair of first-year sprinters represented the Judges. In the 200-meter dash, Nick Wactor '17 had a strong showing with his 21st place finish in 23.26 seconds while Jeremy Wilson '17 came in at 39th with a time of 24.42 seconds. Wactor improved on his time of 23.88 seconds he recorded in the prelimanry round.

Wactor followed his 200-meter race with a time of 53.30 in the 400-meter dash, putting him at 32nd for the event. Wilson, meanwhile, finished in 52nd with a time of 54.55.

The men also had a strong overall showing in the long jump, despite the inability of Mohamed Sidique '15 to place in the top 10 and earn any points in the event.

Sidique came up .08 meters short of his seed distance of 6.48 meters, putting him in 11th place in the finals for the event. Sidique came two-tenths of a meter from finishing in 10th place for the event.

Adam Berger '16 and Franklin also competed in the long jump, finishing with distances of 5.95 and 5.62 meters respectively.

Both the men and women will travel to Brown University on Saturday afternoon to take part in the Brown University Springtime Collegiate Invitational.