FRESNO, Calif. – Five members of the women's track and field team claimed all-conference honors to commemorate the team's first appearance at the PacWest Championships on Saturday.
Senior Jaelah Butler finished in third place in the hammer, improving upon her school record in the process. Butler, who had a previous PR of 156-10 in the event, launched her sixth and final attempt a distance of 158 feet, 8 inches (48.38m). She was third going into her final attempt before Fresno Pacific's Casey Davis posted a mark of 158-01 (48.20m) to push Butler to fourth. Butler came up in the clutch for a dramatic finish in front of a throng of her teammates, picking up six points for the Blue and Gold.
The Lions compiled another third place showing in the 4x400 relay as the foursome of Megan Charley, Eryn Burke, Elizabeth Betten and Brooke Dalgity improved their No. 2 time in Vanguard history from 3:45.62 to 3:43.80. The performance netted VU six points and assured the four all-conference plaudits by virtue of finishing at least top three in the event.
Vanguard placed seventh with 37 points in the 10-team standings.
Several other Lions compiled points with top eight finishes in various events.
Senior Jessina Morales picked up three points with a sixth place showing in the 1500 meters, clocking 4:35.86. She qualified for the finals with a 4:39.08 in the prelims. Kate Baranski also scored a point for the Lions as she ran the event in 4:40.48.
Dalgity, the VU record holder in the 400 meters, finished in fourth place in 54.93 seconds for five points, while teammate Eryn Burke was seventh overall in 56.22. Burke totaled two points.
Charley nearly hit her PR in the 800 meter preliminaries with a 2:13.65, and returned for the finals with a 2:15.00. She finished in eighth place and earned her team a point.
The VU record holder in the 400 meter hurdles, senior Jordyn Burke finished in fourth place with a time of 1:01.88. It was a slight improvement over her 1:01.99 in the prelims. Burke tallied five points for the Blue and Gold.
Madyson Nakamura ran the 10000 meters in a personal-best 38:28.91 for sixth place and three VU points.
The field events netted more points for Vanguard, with Butler scoring in her second event. She heaved the shot put a distance of 41-01.75 (12.54m) for sixth place and three more Lion points.
In the triple jump, freshman Kolena Apana placed seventh with a clearance of 34 feet, 11 inches (10.64m) and two points.
VU got several athletes key experience participating in their first NCAA Division 2 conference meet.
Freshman Sydney Sydney participated in the 1500 meter prelims and finished 19th in 5:09.67. She also ended up 13th in the 10000 meters in 39:59.12.
Elizabeth Betten placed 10th overall in the 100 meter prelims in 12.30 seconds and 17th in the 200 meters (25.04).
In the 800 meters, Ariana Rodriguez (2:22.92) and Mary Sawczuk (2:26.26) finished 17th and 20th, respectively.
Hannah Finch participated in two events, posting a 1:08.36 in the 400 meter hurdles and a 4-07.50 (1.41m) in the high jump.
Jillian Orm ran the 3000 meter steeplechase in 17:42.67.
Morales (17:51.10), Baranski (18:03.00) and Giselle Rubio (18:21.07) participated in the 5000 meters.
Apana competed in her second event, the long jump, and placed 15th overall with a top mark of 16-10.50 (5.14m).
Freshman Briana Martin competed in the long jump and triple jump, posting top marks of 15-11.00 (4.85m) and 30-10.25 (9.40m), respectively.
Butler participated in two other events, placing 10th in the discus (124-10/38.05m) and 13th in the javelin (92-11/28.32m).
Senior Kaylee Jones finished ninth in the shot put (38-00.00/11.58m), 18th in the discus (107-06/32.78m) and 11th in the hammer (139-06/42.54m). Her shot put performance improved her personal-best by two inches as she maintained the No. 4 mark in VU history.
Andrea Espinoza Noriega had a top mark of 32-09.75 (10.00m) in the shot put for 16th place. She also competed in the discus (116-00/35.36m) and hammer (115.00/35.05m).
Also, Gimena Hurtado posted a 32-08.50 (9.97m) in the shot put, 106-03 (32.40m) in the discus and 115-00 (35.05m) in the hammer.
What Was Said?: "Our ladies were all-in this weekend," said Head Coach Bryan Wilkins. "They competed their hearts out and cheered on their teammates with incredible enthusiasm until some even lost their voices. Haha. I couldn't be prouder of this team and how well they finished out our season. They executed well and loved well!"
