BOSTON – Senior Mia Bawendi and junior Casie Eifrig each set new school records to highlight action for the Amherst College women's track and field team on the first day of the NEICAAA Indoor Championships on Friday at the Track at New Balance.

The meet includes athletes who qualified from all three NCAA divisions and awards All-NEICAAA honors to the top three finishers in each event while also serving as a final chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

With 7 out of 20 events scored on Friday, defending champion Massachusetts leads with 48.5 points. Bawendi tallied eight points for Amherst to place the Mammoths in a tie for ninth.

Most of the running events held preliminaries on Friday with finals coming up as part of a full day of action on Saturday (March 2) beginning at 9 a.m. at the Track at New Balance. The Mammoths will also be competing tomorrow at the Tufts National Qualifying Meet with action in Medford beginning at noon.

MEET HIGHLIGHTS:

* Bawendi cleared 3.69m in the pole vault to break her own Amherst record set earlier this season. She cleared the bar on her second attempt finish second in the event and earn All-NEICAAA honors.

* Eifrig won her qualifying heat in the 400m with a school-record time of 57.27 seconds, breaking the Amherst record in that event for the third time this season. Her time ranked fifth in the preliminaries of the 400m and qualified her for Saturday's final, which is slated for noon.