In their final regular season meet, the Slippery Rock University women’s indoor track team earned four NCAA qualifying marks and had multiple top 10 finishes at the Kent State Tuneup last weekend.
This was the team’s final meet before they defend their title at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championships this weekend.
SRU head coach John Papa said he likes the team’s chances in the championship.
“The good news is that most of our athletes are healthy and ready for the challenge,” Papa said. “We won the championships last year and we have the potential to repeat. We will need a significant team performance this weekend to pull it off.”
Papa said he believes that this year’s team has a better chance to win than last year’s.
“This year’s team, I feel, may be a bit better than last year,” Papa said. “Many of our top ladies from last year are still on the team. We have big meet and pressure experience.”
Pole vaulters Kaitlyn Clark and Courtney McQuaide both cleared matching heights and both earned NCAA qualifying marks. Clark finished in fourth place with a 3.68 meter clear and McQuaide finished in seventh with the same height. Clark was named the PSAC women’s indoor track Athlete of the Week. The Green and White placed three in the top 10 in the high jump event. Sabrina Anderson, Paige Kassab and Ashley West all finished in top spots. Anderson earned the third NCAA qualifying mark with a 1.65 meter jump that landed her in sixth place. Kassab and West had matching jumps of 1.6 meters and ended in eighth and 10th respectively.
In the long jump Kassab and West were also productive. Finishing in eighth place was junior Sam Taylor with a 5.2 meter jump. Behind her Kassab finished in ninth with a 5.17 meter jump and West ended up in 11th with a 5.11 meter jump.Taylor also competed in the triple jump where she had an 11.2 meter jump and finished in fifth place.
In the 800-meter dash senior Janine Powis earned the fourth and final NCAA qualifying mark. Powis ran a 2:14.94 minute time and finished in eighth place. Fellow senior Angelica Bagwell finished in 21st place with a 2:22.98 minute time.Out of the long distance runners, junior Jenny Picot was the most productive with a top-five finish. Picot completed the mile in 5:07.04, finishing in fourth place.
In the 200-meter dash it was junior Lexie Nowakowski’s final opportunity to qualify for the PSAC championships. Nowakowski finished in 10th place with a time of 25.66 seconds, which did beat the PSAC provisional mark and qualified her to run the 200-meter dash at the championships. The Rock’s short distance runners had a strong showing in the 400-meter dash as they placed four in the top 20. Lauren Harvey, Katie Teed and Cassandra Swartzbaugh finished back-to-back-to-back in 12th, 13th, and 14th respectively. Harvey’s time was 59.45 seconds, Teed ran a time of 59.98 seconds, and Swartzbaugh finished in 60.21 seconds. Josette Dawson finished in 20th with a time of 1:00.91.
In the 60-meter dash, Emily Moroco and Jasmine Bailey also notched top 20 finishes. Moroco finished in 14th with a 7.95 second time and Bailey finished in 18th place in 8.04 seconds.
In the 60-meter hurdles, sophomore Kennedy Evan finished in 13th in 9.19 seconds.
In the throwing events junior Breana Northcott was once again productive. Northcott finished in 14th in the weight throw with a 15.72 meter throw. In the shot put Northcott came in 12th with a 11.62 meter throw. Anna Frengel finished just ahead of Northcott in 11th with an 11.62 meter throw in the shot put.
With another successful outing behind them, the team will now shift focus towards defending their PSAC championship title as the championships are fast approaching. The championships will start this Saturday at Edinboro University.
“I tell the ladies that this is a team event: we win or lose as a team,” Papa said. “We are going to have some ups and downs, we need to pick each other up if there is some adversity. If everyone performs for the team, we will have an opportunity to win.”
