The Slippery Rock University women’s indoor track and field team returned from a six week hiatus Friday night at the YSU College Invite at the Watts and Tressel Training Site at Youngstown State University.
The Green and White didn’t let the long break affect them as they had 21 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference individual qualifying performances and eight top-five finishes.
Head coach John Papa was satisfied with his squad’s performance, but knows there is still room for improvement.
“With the super long break, our athletes were rusty,” Papa said, “We should have more significant results next weekend.”
The top performances from the Rock came in the pole vault. Freshman Kaitlyn Clark and junior Julia Cain each cleared an NCAA provisional qualifying height of 3.65 meters. Clark finished third via the tiebreaker, while Cain took fifth.
Clark tied her personal record in the event, but she is looking to achieve more.
“I want to go to nationals as a freshman and become an All-American.” Clark said, “I also want to win PSACs.”
Joining Clark and Cain were sophomore PSAC qualifiers Keriann Hill and Emily Schubert, who finished in a tie for ninth at 3.05 meters.
The Rock received a solid performance in the mile from senior Stephanie Case, who claimed second with a PSAC-qualifying time of 5:07.74.
Four Rock athletes finished with PSAC-qualifying marks in the triple jump. Freshman Mariah Burns led the Rock jumpers taking third place with a jump of 11.18 meters.
Rounding out the Rock jumpers were freshman Bronte Soul, who took sixth at 10.94 meters, followed by junior Dilshani Madawala in 12th at 10.35 meters, and freshman Paige Kassab in 13th at 10.27 meters.Three freshmen led the Rock in the long jump. Sam Taylor finished in fourth with a leap of 5.29 meters, followed by Burns in fifth at 5.25 meters, and Kassab in 10th at 5.06 meters.
London Parris took fourth place in the 60-meter hurdles, setting her personal record in an emotional fashion with a PSAC qualifying mark of 9.12 seconds in the final, improving from her 9.36 preliminary time.
“When I saw that I beat my personal record, I hugged the closet person to me. I was so excited,” Parris said.
The final event with multiple PSAC qualifiers was the high jump, where freshman Ashley West took fifth with a clearance of 1.60 meters. Linda Roldan, who finished sixth with a clearance of 1.55 meters, and junior Jamie Rylands in 10th place joined the PSAC qualifiers.
Two Green and White throwers reached the PSAC qualifying standards in their respective events, with sophomore Brittany Christiansen placing eighth in the weight throw with a toss of 14.09 meters and freshman Breanna Northcott taking 13th in the shot put with a toss of 10.89 meters.
The final PSAC qualifiers for SRU came from the ninth-place finish of Lexie Nowakowski in the 400-meter dash and Ang Bagwell in the 800-meter run. Nowakowski crossed the line in 1:00.65 in the 400m, while Bagwell finished in 2:23.42 in the 800m.
According to Bagwell, her time at the Rock has been plagued with injuries, including a recent diagnosis of Plantar Fascitis, an inflammation of the arch in the foot, but she is optimistic of her and the team’s chances this season.
The last top performance from the Rock came in the 500-meter run, a non-PSAC event. Freshman Jasmine Bailey placed eighth in a time of 1:23.28.
Slippery Rock will send all of its athletes to the Spire Center in Geneva, Ohio on Saturday for the NCAA Division II Challenge.
