The Westminster women's track and field team broke four records and competed for the first time in modern history in the pole vault at the CMU Invitational on Friday, April 3. The Blue Jays placed fourth out of eight at the meet with 81.5 points.
Freshman Anna Houston rebroke three records and scored 28.5 points in the meet third meet of the outdoor season with a first place finish. She shaved over a second off the 100-meter hurdles record in the finals round. She placed third in the finals, earning six points with a time of 15.30. On the field, Houston broke the triple jump with her first place 10.61-meter jump and the high jump record with her fourth place 1.45-meter jump. Houston also jumped the long jump, placing second with a 4.98-meter jump.
Senior Nyima Njie threw javelin for the first time in her collegiate career and broke the record by over two meters. Her 31.25-meter throw landed her first place.
Freshman Taylor Howard became the first person to compete in the pole vault since the Blue Jays brought the track & field program back. She finished fourth, jumping 2.45-meters.
Also competing in field events were senior Danielle Smulczenski and Maria Rains. Smulczenski threw shot put (9.81m- 8th), discus (23.69m-12th) and the javelin (25.50m-6th). Rains competed in the long jump, placing ninth with a 4.12m finish.
On the track side, the Blue Jays had seven runners in eight events, tallying 37 points.
Senior Tanisha Terrell, freshman Maria Rains and Njie each competed in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash. Terrell finished first for the Blue Jays in each event, placing seventh in the 100-meter dash finals with a time of 12.973. She was just .001 seconds behind the sixth place finisher. In the 200-meter dash she placed eighth with a time of 26.61. Rains finished the 100-meter in 13.14 seconds and the 200-meter in 26.72 seconds. Njie rounded out the Blue Jays in each event, finishing the 100-meter in 13.33 second and the 200-meter in 27.65 seconds.
Freshmen Shannon McCaul and Madison Zack ran the mid distance events for the team. McCaul placed fifth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:33.525. She placed eighth in the 1500-meter run, earning one point with the 5:12.29 time. Zack placed 10th (2:40.87) in the 800-meter run and 12th (5:26.73) in the 1500-meter run.
Smulczenski added a running event to her field heavy day, competing in the 400-meter dash. She placed fifth in the run, finishing in 1:03.00.
Junior Brier Skogsberg rounded out the individual races for the Blue Jays in the 5000-meter run. She placed third with a time of 19:39.65.
The Blue Jays had a relay team compete in the 4x100-meter relay and another in the 4x400-meter relay. The 4x400-meter relay team, comprised of Terrell, Howard, Rains and Zack, placed second with a final time of 4:16.56. The 4x100-meter relay team, comprised of Rains, Howard, Njie and Terrell placed fifth with a time of 53.81.
Westminster will participate in the WJC Darrel Gourley Open at William Jewell College on Saturday, April 11.
