Thirteen Personal Records Highlight Blazers' Final Preparation for CAC Championships
GETTYSBURG, Pa.--The Hood College women's track and field team travelled to Gettysburg Saturday for its final competition prior to the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) Championships.
High finishers on the day were Alyssa Peterson and Nalla Tejera. Peterson ran a 12:45.74 personal best to place second in the 3000 meter steeplechase. Tejera finished second in the shot and came back to score in the remaining three throwing disciplines, finishing sixth in the discus and eighth in both the hammer and the javelin.
Other top three finishes on the day included Alexandra Dystant
(third in 1:01.76 in her first attempt at 400 meters), Lauren
Roesch (third at 10,000 meters, carving nearly 40 seconds from her
previous best), and the 4 x 400 relay team of Dystant, Emma
Arneson, Sophie Grizzle and Gretchen Whitesell which also came home
third.
"By and large, we accomplished what we came for today," said head
coach Brent Ayer. "For the most part, we competed hard. Alyssa
and Sophie are closing in on school records and moving up the CAC
leaderboards."
Grizzle dropped nearly four seconds from her previous best in
finishing fourth in the 400 hurdles, moving her to within two
seconds of the school record. Megan Cahill had a busy day,
running seasonal bests in the 100 and 200 in placing fifth and
leading the Blazer presence in the pole vault where she finished
sixth. The vault also saw two additional Blazer scorers in
Chelsea Bunker and Margarita Swissler, who set personal bests in
placing seventh and eighth. Arneson, a senior
captain, placed sixth in the long jump and seventh in the 100
hurdles to round out the scoring for Hood.
Other personal bests were set by Caitlin Bean (800 and mile), Sara
Bean (800), Joanna LaBoue (mile) and Mollie Widdowson
(javelin). As a team, the Blazer women placed sixth of
nine.
"I didn't pay a lot of attention to the team scores," said
Ayer. "Our goals were to gain some confidence and consistency
as well as rest a bit heading into our conference
championships. I had no plans of flogging a whole bunch of
athletes just to move up two or three spots in the team standings
this close to the championships."
The women's track & field team is off next weekend prior to
heading to Frostburg University for the CAC championships May 5 and
6.
