The Slippery Rock women’s indoor track and field team edged out Shippensburg to win the 2016 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship over the weekend at Edinboro. This marks the fifth championship for the women’s team.
“We didn’t really look at the points from Saturday, we knew the more important events were on Sunday and those we’re the events we could get points in,” Rock head coach John Papa said.
As competition began on Saturday they had come into the final day of competition Sunday trailing Shippensburg by three points. The team had no fear as it battled to top Shippensburg with a total of 135 points over the Raiders 117 point total. Edinboro would take third at 71 points, Bloomsburg followed in fourth at 63 and California took fifth at 54 points.
With a total of eight events to go in the meet, The Rock took care of business to finish the meet strong. Leading the charge was senior Jasmine Bailey who cruised to victories in the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes. Bailey was named the most outstanding athlete on the women’s side where she broke her own 200-meter record with a time of 24.84 seconds and was named to the All-Region team for the 400-meter race. She would continue to be strong in her 400-meter time at 56.69 seconds, a whole two seconds ahead of the competition which earned her an NCAA provisional mark. Bailey contributed to the team’s 4×400 meter relay team, as they placed second in the event and Jasmine Bailey posted the fasted split amongst all racers.
Finishing off her senior indoor season with seven events was senior Sabrina Anderson. Anderson earned the Most Outstanding Overall Athlete Award for her effort and performance at the championship and was named to the All-Region team for the pentathlon and high jump. She clocked another NCAA provisional mark with her personal best time in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.76 seconds for the win. With an eighth place finish in the 60-meter race at a time of 7.94 seconds, her total individual points tallied out at 21.
“She came in hobbling with a bruised heal but was able to finish strong in the 60 meter,” Papa said.
The high jump event favored the Slippery Rock women, especially for junior Ashley West. West was the only one to clear an NCAA provisional height at 1.72 meters and was added to the All-Region team. The women’s distance runners kept pace and closed the door on the competitors. Senior Jenny Picot would place third in the mile with a personal best time of 5:01.16, and was able to anchor the distance relay team to place second on Saturday. In the 3,000-meter final, Picot would place second at 9:59.34 as well as graduate student Leah Anne Wirfel finishing fourth in the event at a time of 10:05.14. Wirfel was also able to place second in the 5,000-meter race at 17:10.0. Picot was named to the All-region team for the 3,000-meter, the mile and the Distance Medley race. Wirfel earned All-Region honors for the 5,000-meter, the mile and the 3ooo-meter races. Sophomore Anna Frengel was able to grab five points for the team with a throw of 12.81 meters.
Continuing her late season indoor track success was senior Sam Taylor. Providing another NCAA provisional mark was Taylor’s third place leap of 11.72 meters in the triple jump.
“Winning the indoor championship is like a midterm. The outdoor championship is our ultimate goal,” Papa said. “We look at it now as 70 days until the PSAC Outdoor championships. That’s where our focus is.”
