RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Dayton track and field team completed competition in the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Sunday, and the Flyers grabbed the overall bronze medal, finishing third among the 14 competing programs. The Flyers set several new personal bests throughout the meet, and finished the season on a high note, winning four of the 22 events outright.
 
"We had an awesome finish to the Atlantic-10 Championships today here at Richmond," commented director of track and field Jason Ordway. "Chante Clinkscale continued her streak and defended the short sprint titles, adding a historic 4x100m team title to the mix with her teammates. She earned the track athlete of the meet in the process. Lainey earned a win in the 1500m as we had 3 scorers in both the 1500m and 5000m between Lainey Studebaker, Abby Carter, and Emily Sreenan. Our field athletes had a very strong showing as well with Grace Homan leading the way in the shotput and discus, Taylor Flight in the hammer, and Luisa Himmler in the javelin.
 
All in all we had a great, well-rounded approach to the championship and our 3rd place finish is a fantastic result. This is our highest outdoor finish in several years and it was truly a team effort to achieve."
 
FINAL TEAM RESULTS (TOP 10)
PLACE              TEAM                          PTS.
1                      UMASS                        123.5
2                      VCU                             120
3                      DAYTON                      96.5
4                      Richmond                    94
5                      George Mason             79
6                      Rhode Island               67.5
7                      Davidson                     63
8                      Fordham                     45
9                      Duquesne                    42.5
10                    La Salle                        42
 
DAY 1
In the field events for day 1, Luisa Himmler led things off for the Flyers in the javelin toss, finishing fifth overall with a throw of 37.77m. Christierra Williams set a season-best mark in the long jump on Saturday, finishing 11^th overall with a mark of 5.40m. Jayla Pruitt also set a season-best mark in the event, finishing with a mark of 5.26m, placing her 17^th overall. Carolyn Bakx finished the pole vault in a tie for fifth, clearing 3.42m.
 
On the track Saturday, Zoe Chappelle set a new personal best in the 3000m steeplechase, finishing fourth overall with a time of 10:57.53. Melissa Weidner also set a new personal best in the 10,000m finals, finishing fifth with a 36:41.02.
 
DAY 2
Christierra Williams continued her momentum from Saturday into day 2 on Sunday in the field events, placing fifth in the triple jump finals, with a final jump of 11.95m. Grace Homan and Taylor Flight finished fifth and sixth respectively in the shot put finals, with 13.73m (Homan) and 13.01m (Flight) marks. The two also finished back-to-back in the discus throw, with Homan earning the bronze medal in the event with a 45.49m throw.
 
The Flyers had a busy day on the track in day two of the Atlantic 10 Championships, winning four of the 11 events ran on the day. The first event of the day was the 4x100m relay, and Dayton wasted no time getting on the board, winning the event outright for the first time in program history with a time of 47.43 seconds. The second event on the women's side was the 1500m finals, and Lainey Studebaker continued her season-long momentum in that event, with a final time of 4:32.05. Chante' Clinkscale won the first of two events on the day in the 100m, posting a final time of 11.52 seconds. She would also take the gold medal in the 200m race, setting a new season-best with a time of 23.95 seconds. These two event victories earned Clinkscale the title of Most Outstanding Track Performer, following up on her Most Outstanding Rookie Performer performance from the Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships.
 
The Flyers will now prepare to continue their postseason run, as they will take 10 days to prepare for the NCAA East Preliminaries, which will take place in Bloomington, Ind. on May 25-28.