CLAREMONT, Calif. -- The relay squads for Vanguard women's track and field put on a show last Saturday at the Carl Rossi Relays, hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, setting three records, two of which had held for over 10 years. The individuals performed well in the longer runs and the field events, highlighted by
Kolena Apana nabbing a podium finish in the triple jump with a third-place result.
What's Happened? The 4x800m relay squad of
Kate Baranski,
Jessina Morales,
Ariana Rodriguez, and
Megan Charley lowered the school record by 15 seconds with a 9:13.17 time to place second in the event. VU was four seconds behind Cal Poly Pomona but 13 seconds quicker than Biola, with PLNY the next Pacific West Conference squad in fifth with a 9:29.14. The previous school record was set last year at 9:28.74. VU had a "B" and a "C" team in the event as well, with the "B" team (
Mary Sawczuk,
Giselle Rubio,
Madyson Nakamura,
Sydney Sydney) finishing 11th in a time of 9:56.50 and the "C" grouping (
Hailey Quiroz,
Kaitlyn Barragan,
Emily Noyes,
Vanessa Flores) clocking an 11:00.91.
The 800m Sprint Medley Relay sees two athletes race 100 meters before the next runner goes 200 meters and the final participant go for 400 meters.
Brooke Dalgity and
Eryn Burke made the two 100 meter hops,
Jordyn Burke completed the 200m leg, and
Elizabeth Betten brought it home over the 400m stretch for the Blue and Gold to pound out a 1:45.75 to lower the school record by just over six seconds (previous best: 1:52.14, 1998). Though the lineup was roughly three seconds behind CSUSB, who won the event, Vanguard was two seconds faster than both APU and PLNU.
The distance medley relay saw Dalgity run the 400m leg,
Eryn Burke race the 800m distance, Morales travel the 1,200m portion, and Baranski cover the final distance of 1,600m. The effort was sublime from all four as the squad blew away the field with an 11:59.43 time, 18 seconds faster than PLNU. The four lowered the 21-year-old record of 12:01.88, which had been good enough in 2004 for a third-place finish at the NAIA Indoor Nationals race (run by Jenny Thune, Jenifer Zipprich, Christol McDonald, and VU Hall of Fame member Sarah Hall). Vanguard's "B" lineup (Quiroz,
Sophia Linder,
Hannah Finch, Sydney) completed the run in 12th with a 13:11.81 time.
On the individual side, Apana placed third in the triple jump by vaulting 11.03m and she was seventh out of 44 athletes in the long jump with a 5.12m leap.
Briana Martin has a 10.06m jump to land in eighth for the triple jump and
Kaylee Jones cracked the top 10 of the discus throw with a heave of 34.04m, good for ninth.
What was Said? "We're super proud of everything our team accomplished today," said Head Coach
Bryan Wilkins. "It was truly a historic day in the relays for us and a multitude of athletes had personal bests in individual events too. We're so blessed and we all the glory to God!"
