Even though the Lions took fourth at home in the MIAA indoor track and field championship last weekend, improvement was still seen as individuals improved their personal records.

“I’ll never be satisfied with fourth place, but at the same time I have to be extremely proud of the efforts they put forth this weekend,” said Patty Vavra, head women’s track and field coach.

She said they expect the best of the competition, which makes the MIAA one of the toughest conferences in the nation.

One senior came away with a new University record. Dionne Prince zipped through the 60-meter hurdles in 8.87 seconds in the semi-finals to top Tina Keller’s previous 1999 record in the event. The time was also a Division-II provisional mark. Prince went on to take fifth in the event with 9.54 seconds.

Prince also competed in the triple jump along with senior Iashia Castle. Castle was the conference champion in the event with 39-04.50. Prince jumped for fourth with 36-07.75.

Castle also took third in the long jump with 18-02.50 and second in the 400-meter dash with 57.90.

Sophomore Jessica Selby took the top honor in the shot put event with a throw of 46-04.

Selby will be joining Castle and sophomore Alison Walker at the NCAA Division-II national indoor meet in Boston March 10-11.

Selby, who will also be singing the national anthem at the event, is currently ranked first in the nation in shot put.

Castle is ranked eighth nationally in the triple jump.

“The great thing is two weeks in a row she’s had a personal best in the triple jump,” Vavra said. “She goes in jumping real well.”

Walker sits at the No. 12 spot in the nation in the 800-meter run.

“I’m really shooting to boost up and get in finals and hopefully be All-American,” she said.

Also scoring in the throwing events were senior Ashley Clements and Freshman Jessica Self in the weight throw. Clements took third with a personal record and provisional mark of 52-04.50. Self also had a PR with a fourth place throw of 51-01.50.

“My actual goal was to make it to nationals,” Clements said. “I fell short of that, but it’s still good to see your name on [the national ranking list].”

Freshman Shannan Borgard surpassed her predicted fourth-place finish with a second-place run in the 600-yard race with a time of 1:27.93. Borgard was excited because she set a goal and reached it.

“I envisioned myself getting across the line,” she said. “I had a strategy to run differently than the others would and started faster to get my kick earlier.”

Sophomore Kelly O’Toole proved her consistency with a fourth-place finish in the 5,000-meter run of 18:19.14. She also finished fifth in the 3,000-meter run with 10:40.63.

In the 800-meter run, Walker took second with 2:15.79. Junior Sarah Wallace ran 2:20.20 for fourth.

Senior Kelly Fanning, coming off a hip injury for the last couple of weeks, took fourth in the mile with a time of 5:19.07.

Southern’s 4×400-meter relay team (Wallace, Walker, Shannon Borgard and Castle) took third in the conference with a time of 4:00.36.

The distance medley relay team took fifth in 12:50.91. The team consisted of all freshmen: Kari Fritchie, Stacy Borgard, Shannan Borgard and Kara Eckard.

The Lions’ first outdoor meet will be March 16 at the Pittsburg State Invitational.

Before that, Castle, Selby and Walker will head to the NCAA Division II national indoor track and field championships March 10-11 in Boston.