The Westminster women's track and field team grabbed four first place finishes in their third place performance at the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Invitational on Saturday, April 25. The Blue Jays finished with 14 top three finishes and 118 points. Two of the first place finishes also broke modern day school records.
Junior Brier Skogsberg and freshman Shannon McCaul each broke a school record at the meet. Skogsberg placed first in the 10,000-meter run by over 20 seconds from the next runner. The 40:25.00 time knocked over three minutes off the previously held record and earned the team 10 points. McCaul competed in the 3000-meter steeplechase for the second time in modern day school history, shaving over 30 seconds off the previous record. She finished first out of five with her time of 12:07.30.
Freshman Taylor Howard in the pole vault and the 4x400-meter relay team earned the two remaining first place finishes. Howard was the only competitor in the pole vault, automatically giving her a first place finish with her 2.15-meter jump. The 4x400-meter relay team, comprised of Howard and seniors Nyima Njie, Danielle Smulczenski and Tanisha Terrell, placed first out of five relay teams with their 4:11.17 time.
On top of the Blue Jays' four first place finishes, they also had ten other finishes in the second and third place.
Terrell took second place in 200-meter dash with a 26.47 run and third in the 100-meter dash with a final time of 12.81. Freshman Maria Rains also ran both events, placing ninth in each.
Howard also competed in the triple jump, the 400-meter dash and the 400-meter hurdles where she placed in the top three in each category. She earned the team eight points with her 10.30-meter second place jump in the triple jump. She placed third in the 400-meter dash and the 400-meter hurdles.
Rains earned the team a total of 14 points in her field events. She took second place in the long jump with a 4.62-meter jump and third in the high jump with a 1.32-meter jump.
Skogsberg also competed in the 5,000-meter run, placing third out of seven with a time of 20:37.64.
The 4x100-meter team came in third with a time of 50.43, and earning the final top three finish for the Blue Jays was Smulczenski in the javelin throw. She placed third out of nine with her 29.68-meter throw. She also threw shot put (10.04m, 5th) and discus (23.62m, 9th) and ran the 400-meter dash (1:01.78, 4th).
Njie took home a fourth place finish in javelin throw (29.45m) and a fifth place finish in the 400-meter dash (1:02.28). Freshman Madison Zack placed eighth in the 1500-meter run with a final time of 5:40.04, and Talaysha Ruff placed eighth in the shot put (7.39m) and ninth in the javelin (20.56m).
