MacQuarrie runs to trio of 1st place finishes at Halifax meet

The X-Women track and field team was back in competition this past Saturday at the Nova Scotia Athletics meet held at the Canada Games Centre in Halifax.

Third year sprinter Eilish MacQuarrie headlined the X-Women performance with three first place finishes and two personal best times.

MacQuarrie ran a 7.99 in the women's (age 20-34) 60m, 40.78 in the 300m and 1:37.82 in the 600m to take first place in all three events. Her times in the 300m and 600m races were personal bests.

Other first place finishes came from Beth MacDonald in the women's (age 18-19) 1000m race with a 3:14.23, Liz O'Connell in the (age 20-34) 1000m with 3:02.36 and 2013 AUS cross country individual champion Melissa Hardy (age 20-34) 1500m race with a time of 4:41.80.

In the field events Lauren Agnew placed first in the women's (age 20-34) high jump with a jump of 1.50m, while Ellen Murphy was first in the weight throw with a 11.37m showing.

The X-Women had numerous competitors registered in the majority of the events.

Freshman Abbi Finnan (7.98) and Mary Catherine Thompson (8.73) placed second and third, respectively in the (age 18-19) 60m dash, while Jillian Murphy (8.00) and Jillian Nolan (8.57) followed MacQuarrie in second and third spot in the (age 20-34) 60m dash.

In the 300m event, Brittany Wadden was fifth in the age 18-19 race with a time of 46.79, while in the age 20-34 competitors, Murphy (43.32) placed second behind MacQuarrie and Nolan (46.34) was fourth.

Two X-Women ran in the (age 18-19) 600m race. Beth MacDonald was third with a 1:49.94 posting, while Brittany Wadden was fourth at 1:53.28.

Finishing alongside Hardy in the 1500m event in second through fifth places were her teammates Liz O'Connell (4:50.33), Alexa Zarins (5:04.53), Lynette Manuel (5:07.59) and Ginny Anderson (5:10.09).

Zarins (10:52.06), Manuel (11:08.44) and Anderson (11:30.94) were second, third and fourth in the 3000m event. Hardy did not finish that race.

In the jumping events, Mary Catherine Thompson competed in both the (age 18-19) high jump and long jump. She placed fourth in the high jump with a 1.45m result and third in the long jump at 4.49m.

The X-Women had a strong showing in the shot put with six athletes competing. Hailey Pollock was second overall with an 11.44m throw. Following her were Ellen Murphy (10.62m), Hannah Pollock (10.05m), Jessica Warrener (8.61m) and Jillian MacKenzie (8.47m) in third through sixth spots. Claire Riggs through a 5.85m shot for ninth place.

Following Murphy's first place throw of 11.37m in the weight throw were four more X-Women in second through fifth spots: MacKenzie (10.15m), Hannah Pollock (9.54m), Warrener (8.80m) and Riggs (7.98m).

Current CIS individual track and field rankings feature Eilish MacQuarrie ranked ninth overall in Canada in the 300m event and Melissa Hardy fifth overall in the 3000m.

Next on the schedule for the X-Women is a meet in Montreal at McGill University on January 24th and 25th, featuring some of the top competitors in the country.