Coming off a two-week hiatus, the Dayton track team appeared rejuvenated at the 2010 Akron Invitational this past weekend. The two-day event, which was held at the University of Akron’s Stile Fieldhouse and featured many premier programs, saw the Flyers break two school records and claim individual crowns in four separate events.
Although there was no team scoring at the meet, the results were broken down into two divisions (blue and gold), with the Flyers doing damage in both colors.
Maureen Bulgrin was the champ in the 3,000-meter run, winning by over four seconds in a school record time of 9:47.44. The fleet-footed junior out-paced her seeded time of 9:50.87 by over three seconds on her way to a personal record.
UD’s other program mark fell in the weight throw, where another junior, Mallory Barnes, put up a distance of 64-10.00 to take second overall and furthered her own NCAA provisional distance (64-05.75) from earlier this season on Jan. 30 at the Findlay Classic.
Dayton also had a winner in the mile-run and it was another junior, Liz Coorey, who out-ran her competitors by approximately three second to take first in a personal record time of 5:00.81.
Courtney Siebenaller, a stand-out sophomore, also continued to improve in the pole vault with a season-best height of 12-09.50 – a mark that earned her first-place overall.
In fact, UD’s strong crop of vaulters all had great days on Saturday. Freshman Katie Nageotte finished seventh in the gold division along with Siebenaller (11-05.75). In the blue division, senior Katie DeVault (11-01.75) tied a season-best to tie for second with junior Pembroke Strickland, who set a personal best with her height of 11-01.75.
Senior Brittany Thomas ran one of her strongest times of the season (7.69) in the 60-meter dash to place sixth overall, while the Flyers placed two athletes in the top-10 in the 200-meter race. Freshman Jada Henderson placed fourth overall with a personal best time of 25.61, as senior Lauren O’Brien took tenth with a season-best time of 25.83.
In the 800, junior Ashley Cattran continued to shave time as she ran a 2:10.50 – just one second shy of an NCAA provisional mark – to place third and set a season-best time. In the blue division, junior Brigitte Sherman placed fourth in a season-best time (2:19.63) and was immediately followed by sophomore Kelly Johnston (2:19.66), also a season-best mark.
Bulgrin was joined in the top-10 of the 3K run by sophomores Elissa Mason (9:57.83) and Emily Zimmerman (10:16.43). Supplementing Coorey’s winning time in the mile was sophomore Lindsey Cummings, who placed eighth in the blue division.
Other notable finishes in the field events included junior Tiffany Maske’s fourth-place effort in the high jump, where she cleared a height of 5-02.25 and tied her season-best mark.
Dayton’s contingent of throwers were also on top of their game over the weekend, recording eight top-10 finishes.
Barnes’ school record effort in the weight throw was followed by a personal record by classmate Kerry Allen, who cleared 60’ for the first time in her UD career and finished sixth with her distance of 60-06.00. In the blue division, senior Molly McCarty placed second (55-01.00).
Senior Sarah Allen was fourth for the Flyers in the shot put, recording a distance of 46-00.75, as junior Johnna Zaccari placed just behind her in fifth-place (45-11.75). Dayton also had three top-10 finishers in the blue division, led by Barnes’ first-place mark of 46-06.26. Freshman Christine Borchers fired her way to fifth position (41-08.00), as McCarty came up with a tenth-place mark of 40-06.25.
Dayton will now prepare for its biggest test of the winter, as the Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships kick off next weekend (Feb. 19 & 20) at Mackal Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Rhode Island.
