SPRINGFIELD, Mass.— First-years Brady Kirtland (San Diego, Calif.) and Elaina Head (Kailua Kona, Hawaii) posted the top finishes for the Babson College men's and women's track & field teams on the first day of the New England Division III Championships on Friday at the Blake Track on the campus of the Springfield College. 

Kirtland finished sixth in the preliminaries of the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 14.96, qualifying him for Saturday's final. His time was just one-tenth of a second off his season-best 14.86 that he ran last week. First-year Boston Thomas (Kailua, Hawaii) crossed the line in 20th place in 15.83 seconds.

Junior Chris McDonough (North Andover, Mass.) registered a pair of 19th-place finishes. He ran the 100-meter dash in 11.06 seconds and posted a mark of 20-feet, 11-inches in the long jump.

Head produced a 10th place finish in the long jump with a program-record mark of 17-feet, 11.25-inches, narrowly surpassing her own program record of 17-feet, 9.75-inches set at the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) championships last weekend.

Sophomore Victoria Hart (Greenwich, Conn.) came in 14th place in the preliminaries of the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 15.34 seconds. Senior Brooke Jankowski (Derry, N.H.) finished 18th in 15.73 seconds and classmate Julia Pike (Mansfield, Mass.) was 29h in 17.32. 

Junior Reese Gallant (West Newbury, Mass.) submitted her career-best time in the 100-meter dash, finishing 15th in a time of 12.51 seconds, one one-hundredth of a second better than the 12.52 she ran at the NEWMAC championships last weekend. First-year Marcilee Kinerman (Atlanta, Ga.) finished 25th in a time of 12.81 and senior Robyn Wilkes (Atlanta, Ga.) was right behind in 26th place in 12.84.

Junior Taijah Harvey (Concord, Mass.) represented Babson in the women's 10,000 meters, finishing 21st in a time of 42:22.72.

The second day of competition at the New England Division III Championships begins on Saturday at 11 a.m.