The men’s and women’s track and field teams closed their seasons with strong performances at various meets over the past week and a half, with two competitors earning a bid to next weekend’s NCAA Championships and a third falling just short of a bid. 

Mohamed Sidique ’15 and Amelia Lundkvist ’14 both earned bids to the NCAA Championships with strong weekends, while other runners finished their years with strong races. Kelsey Whitaker ’16 fell just short of a bid to the national meet for the 1500-meter run.

The men and women both split their runners between two regional events on May 9 and 10 to close their respective season. 

Sidique and Maddie Dolins ’17 ran at the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association Outdoor Championship at Westfield State University. The meet featured regional opponents from all three collegiate divisions.

Sidique finished fifth in the triple jump with a distance of 14.43 meters, earning himself All-New England honors in the process. 

Sidique's distance of 14.57 meters from the New England DIII Outdoor Track and Field Championships on May 1 is tied for 10th in Division III and earned a bid to this week's NCAA Championships with the jump. He will enter the triple jump at the NCAA Championships in the 11th slot.

“[Sidique] has a new coach this year, who has worked with him, building him up and getting him stronger,” explained coach Sinead Delahunty Evans. 

“It’s just really a matter of getting stronger; I don’t know if he’s changed anything since the indoor season as opposed to just progress. His confidence is building … and I think he’ll have a great NCAAs.”

Dolins concluded her season in the 5000-meter run, besting her previous personal record by nearly nine seconds. Her time of 17 minutes, 53.18 seconds in the race was good for 16th place overall.

Four distance runners traveled to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for the Eastern College Athletic Championships on Saturday.

Lundkvist took fourth in the 1500-meter run in 4:43.00. She was followed by Whitaker, who took sixth place in 4:44.09. In the final race of  her career, Victoria Sanford '14 finished the course in 4:46.95, taking 10th place overall. Kirsti Pisarik '15 rounded out the field for the Judges, running the course in 5:11.26 for a 26th-place finish overall.

Seven competitors from both squads traveled across Waltham to Bentley University for the New Balance Twilight Meet on May 10. 

Five of the six members of the distance runners set personal records in the 1500-meter run, and all six  competitors finished the race within the top 20 spots.

 Lundkvist crossed the finish line in third place, covering the course in 4:34.07, more than one second off her previous personal record. Her time was the 21st best time in Division III, earning her a bid to the NCAA Championships. Lundkvist will have the 11th slot for the 1500-meter race.

“[Lundkvist has] had a great senior year, and the fact that she’s made it to nationals [with her injury] is a great achievement,” Delahunty Evans said.  “She’s a joy to coach and she’ll be missed, both by her teammates and the coaching staff.”

Whitaker finished not far behind her teammate, taking fifth place in 4:36.57. Though Whitaker was the only member of the Judges in the distance race to not set a new personal best, she held the 38th best time in Division III on the year. 

Whitaker's time was just 22 hundreths of a second behind the final accepted bid to the NCAAs.

The Judges had another competitor finish within the top 10. Sanford shaved more than two seconds off her previous personal record, timing in at 4:40.07 and finishing in ninth place.

Pisarik, who finished in 4:48.60, rounded out the 1500-meter run for the Judges. 

Her 14th-place finish at the meet was six seconds faster than her previous personal best and just the third time she has run the meet in her collegiate career.

Grady Ward ’16 finished the men’s race in 13th place, covering the course in a new personal record 4:02.70. He was joined by Quinton Hoey ’17, whose time of 4:05.36 put him in 17th place and bettered his previous personal record by a few seconds. 

Jarret Harrigan ’15 also ran at the New Balance Twilight Meet, taking eighth place in the 3000-meter run with a time of 9:06:64.

“[Harrigan has been] steadily improving; he ran a good 3K and he’s bringing his times down to where they were last year,” Delahunty Evans said.

The NCAA Championships will be held in Delaware, Ohio this upcoming Thursday to Saturday. 

The meet will be hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University, with stats available on the NCAA website.