Three distance runners from the Tiger women’s track & field team competed in the Mt. Sac Relays in California last Thursday. Senior Maddie Murphy finished with a top 10 Division III time.
Murphy placed 13th in the 10,000-meter race, with a time of 36:08.55, breaking her personal record by almost 30 seconds; her time is ranked 10th in the nation.
“Mt. Sac was an incredible opportunity,” Murphy said. “My teammates and I had the chance to compete against some very talented athletes. This meet allowed us to push ourselves to race and leave everything on the track.”
Both teams also competed in the University of Incarnate Word Cardinal Invite on April 12.
Senior George Warren had a personal-best jump of 2.08 meters in the high jump competition against Division I competitors. His jump ties him for the No. 1 spot in DIII for the season.
“The meets have gone really well,” said junior Mike McIntosh. “We’ve gotten better as a team since the season started and I think that’s what coach wanted most. We did really well at the Incarnate Word meet. Our sprinters had a lot of PRs.”
The women’s team also had many personal-best times in both sprinting and distance events.
Senior Salome Wilfred had a personal best in the 200 meter dash with a time of 27.02 seconds; first year Katie Groke placed third among non-Division I teams in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.91 seconds. Senior Bailey Drury came in second among non-Division I teams in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.90 seconds.
In distance running, senior Jackie Newell, junior Autumn Kervella and sophomore Mariana Sigala all ran well in the 1500-meter event, and junior Michelle Oberndorf ran 18:50.48 in the 5k event.
The Tiger men’s and women’s track & field teams will host the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships today and tomorrow. The Tigers are looking to defend last year’s conference titles.
“On paper on the women’s side, it’s really close,” Whitehead said. “We’re trying to put all of our athletes in the best position and see how it shakes out in the two-day competition.”
