Margaret BauerThree members of the Washington University track team provisionally qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Cougar Classic in Edwardsville, Illinois. Senior Lindsey Clark-Ryan, junior Hallie Hutchens, and sophomore David Skiba all provisionally qualified.
Clark-Ryan qualified by virtue of her 11.51 meter first place leap in the triple jump, marking a season best for the Bears. In addition to Clark, the Bears’ 1,600-meter relay squad, which consists of sophomores Michelle McCully, Laura Ehret, and Dorothy Gregg and freshman Natalie Badowski, took first place in the competition. They clocked in at 3:59.66. According to McCully, both she and Gregg ran their best races to date.
“Our 4*4 had a really good day. Two of us ran our best splits all year- Dorothy Gregg and me. We changed the order from the way we have been doing it the rest of the season,” McCully said. “It’s also getting to the point in the season when we’ll start getting good times. Probably more so in the next couple of weeks when we start tapering.”
Hutchens performance was also noteworthy; she improved her 100-meter hurdle time to 14.84 seconds, good for a second place finish.
Coach Paul Thornton was pleased with the team’s performance.
“It was just a real good day overall. There are no specifics when you’re dealing with that many events. It’s just good to see the athletes improving,” Thornton said. “It wasn’t the greatest day to compete but that didn’t bother the athletes. We’re getting ready to go into our championship portion of the season and we’re getting ready to go into that.”
Thornton added the team’s main concern in the coming weeks is to avoid injury so it can field its best team.
“The goals for the next couple of weeks is to stay healthy because at this time of year we really want to bring our best squad to the UAA championships,” Thornton said.
In the men’s competition, the team was paced by Skiba whose 14.72 time in the 110-meter hurdles gave him an NCAA “B” Cut and third place in the event. Skiba also was a part of the 1600-meter relay squad which took third place with a time of 3:20.60. Skiba, along with junior Lance Moen, senior Matthew Wallace, and freshman Robert Clopton, were able to cut five seconds off their previous season-best mark.
The Bears placed well in many other events. Junior Tim Lin came in fourth in the men’s javelin throw, and junior Kyle Wagner came in third in the men’s hammer throw. In addition, the Bears took three out of the top four spots in the 5000-meter run, highlighted by sophomore Derek Leidigh’s second place performance. Junior Lance Moen came in third in the 400 meter dash.
For the women’s team, freshman Delaina Martin came in third in the discus throw, while senior Kammie Holt placed second in the women’s long jump. Freshman Linday Harkema and sophomore Ginny Griffin came in first and second respectively in the 5000 meter run. In the 1500 meter run, the Bears captured second through sixth places with sophomore Andrea Moreland coming in second. Freshman Natalie Badowski was third in the 400 meter dash. Sophomore Leah Sabin was third in the 100 meter dash, and in the 3000 meter steeplechase, senior Renee Hires was third.
McCully, a member of the first place finishing relay team, praised the team’s performance, which came on a day with less than ideal weather conditions.
“I think we did very well despite the weather,” McCully said. “It was sort of chilly and kind of raining, but people were able to pull out good times anyway.”
The Bears will return to action at the Kansas Relays from April 15-17 in Lawrence, Kansas.