Women’s track team reaches success at Lion Invite

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Willie Brown/The Chart

Sophomore Melanie Bower won the pole vault event at the MSSU lion invite.

Friday, Feb. 1 the women’s track and field team took advantage of having the home field advantage while competing in the MSSU Lion Invite.

Freshman Kylee Morgan won the pentathlon with a score of 3,029 points. Morgan won the high jump and the long jump in the event.

Sophomore Emily Paullus and freshman Miriah Johnson followed in third and fifth place in the pentathlon.

“The team performed a lot better this week, compared to most meets,” said Mead. “We’ve stepped up to the level of performance that we need to be at. We had a lot of provisionals; we’ve all been looking a lot better.”

Freshman Brittani Reagan earned a provisional with a second place distance of 18-05.25, followed by sophomore Taitum.

With a distance of 48-08.75, junior Kylie Cornman earned sixth place in the weight throw.

Freshman Lauren Baehr placed third in the 5k followed by seniors Cassy Kendrick and Marlee Tegenkamp in fourth and fifth place.

Sophomore Melanie Bower won the pole vault with a provisional height of 11-8, while junior Sydney Haase in second and sophomore Ashleigh McFarland with a height of 11-3.

Reagan won the triple jump with a provisional jump of 38-6, followed by sophomores Amber White and Mahogany Jones placed fourth and fifth respectively.  

“I really feel like we’ve finally turned the corner,” Head Coach Patty Vavra said. “We’ve really struggled since we’ve come back from Christmas break. I think the intensity of the immediate meet situation and even if you trained over Christmas break it’s just not the same as having your teammates there.”

Junior Rachel Schrader placed first in the mile with a time of 5:08.17. Cornman placed fifth in the shot put with a distance of 43-9.75. Junior

Kaitlyn Belisle placed second in the 3k with a time of 10:25.17. Hughes finished fourth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.88.

Junior Jackie Wallace placed third in the 60-meter hurdles in a provisional time of 8.89, followed by senior JeAnna Sheppard, Mead and Paullus in fourth, fifth and eighth place respectively.

White place third in the 400-meter dash, while sophomore Emily Weldin, Sheppard and Mead in third, fourth and fifth in the 600 yard.

Junior Sydney Potts earned third place in the 800-meter with a time of 2:18.17.

The lion’s 4×400-meter relay team of Hughes, Potts, White and Weldin earned a second place time of 3:58.70.

This weekend the Lions will be at the University of Arkansas for the Tyson Invitational.