The Rock women’s track and field team was back in action at two meets this past weekend competing at the Indiana University (Pa.) (IUP) PSAC West Invite and the Liberty Invitational at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
Most of The Rock team traveled to the Indiana meet, which was highlighted by senior Kennedy Evans winning the 400-meter hurdles with a career-best time of 59.98 seconds, which is the fifth best Division II time in the nation. Evans edged out IUP’s Lizzy Cunningham, who was previously ranked ahead of Evans on the national list. A few days later, Evans was named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference(PSAC) female track athlete of the week for her accomplishment.
“Kennedy is very deserving of PSAC athlete of the week. Sub-60 seconds in the 400 hurdles is a great time,” head coach John Papa said about Evans’ recognition.
Evans also ran with seniors Erica Hans, Jasmine Bailey and freshman Emily Hortsman to place second in the 4×100-meter relay with a time of 48.16 seconds. Jasmine Bailey also ran to a win in the 400-meter run with a time of 58.03, with junior Ariel Dukes behind her in third with a time of 1:00.87. Emily Hortsman placed third in the 100-meter dash, running a time of 12.14 while junior Sophie Mazza finished second in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.95 to finish the sprinting events.
In the distance events, The Rock took second, third and fourth on the 800-meter run with junior Caitlyn Janeda taking second in 2:19.51, sophomore Madison Przicina in third with 2:21.60 and freshman Kacey Raible in fourth with a time of 2:23.90. Senior Jenny Picot took second in the 1500-meter, running a time of 4:47.30, while sophomore Sabrina Palmieri and junior Matti Dunham took third and fourth in the 5000-meter run with times of 19:06.01 and 19:17.20, respectively, to wrap up the distance events.
Finishing up in the field events, The Rock was led by freshman Madeline Marshall tying for the win in the pole vault with a clearance of 3.55 meters. Junior Maria Darling took third in the pole vault, clearing 3.40 meters, and senior Megan Matrisciano took fourth with a vault of 3.25 meters. In the shot put, junior Anna Frengel took fourth with a throw of 12.88 meters with senior Kelci Yale behind her in eighth with a throw of 11.67 meters. In the discus, junior Caroline McMahon took fourth with a throw of 34.96 meters and Anna Frengel placed fifth with a throw of 34.92 meters. Frengel also placed second in the hammer throw with a toss of 40.00 meters, while freshman Elaina Powell and sophomore Stephanie McCall took fifth and sixth in the javelin with throws of 34.98 and 34.37 meters, respectively.
The rest of the women’s team traveled to Liberty University in Virginia to compete at the Liberty Invitational. The Rock sent three heptathletes to compete at one of the few multi-meets throughout the year. Senior Sabrina Anderson led the trio, scoring 4017 points to place seventh. Freshman Kadin Hinish placed 10th with a score of 3811 points, and freshman Allison Jones scored 3524 points to place 15th.
The Rock women will next compete at the Bison Classic at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa.
“There will be outstanding competition at Bucknell. Most of the PSAC schools will be there as well as other schools that have solid track teams,” Papa said.
He hopes that the competition will bring out season and personal bests from the team as the PSAC Outdoor Championships draw near.
