A Great Day at Seven Sisters

What do bagpipes, the Blue Bonnet Diner, and cross country have in common?

It just so happened that Smith hosted the Seven Sisters cross-country championship on the same day that Smith's new president, Kathleen McCartney (who is a runner!), was inaugurated.  Normally, after the race, the athletes have a chance to shower and dress in non-athletic clothes and eat together at a banquet on campus.  However, since Smith had 5,000 people on campus for the inauguration, there were no facilities available.  So, we headed into town to the Blue Bonnet Diner.  Um, a diner?  For a championship banquet?  Yes, that was our first reaction, too.  It turns out, the diner actually has a lovely banquet hall and plenty of room for the seven teams to sit (with athletes from different teams sitting together, per tradition), and provided ample pasta, salad, and cookies.  Shout out to captains Abby and Micaela for giving the pre-banquet speech!  (As if race day did not provide enough jitters without adding public speaking to the mix....)

Abby and Micaela kick off the banquet

Smith sophomore Danielle Opatovsky and senior Micaela Young were named to the All Seven Sisters Team, which is presented to the top ten finishers.  Danielle finished third overall with a course PR time of 18:59.  Micaela finished seventh, also PR-ing on the course with a time of 19:32. 

Danielle (3rd overall) and Micaela (7th overall)

Danielle and Micaela were not the only two who PRed on the course.  In fact, the list is quite something: Cynthia - 16 sec PR; Katie PS - 37 sec PR; Sarah - 21 sec PR; Sophie - 31 sec PR; Lotte - 22 sec PR; Victoria - 10 sec PR.  Wow! Smith came in third place overall after Vassar and Wellesley. 

Driving back to Smith from the Blue Bonnet Diner, we were stopped by a parade of bagpipes going through campus.

Following the bagpipes was Kathy McCartney and her entourage, marching to the ITT, which some of you may know as the indoor track and tennis facility, but--through much work and massive technological efforts--it had been turned into a great hall for the event.  Welcome, President McCartney!

Yes, believe it or not, that is the indoor track.