Meet Results
Lewisburg, Pa. – West Chester University’s women’s track & field team produced six new qualifiers for the conference championships with an outstanding performance at the 12th annual Bison Open inside Gerhard Fieldhouse on the campus of Bucknell University this weekend.
In an open field that consisted of 17 schools, including four Division I institutions and eight PSAC teams, the Golden Rams’ women held their own, sending six more people to the PSAC Indoor Championships next month.
Melinda Wentz hit three PSAC qualifying marks with a sixth-place finish in the pentathlon with 3,000 points. That is currently the third-best point total on the women’s side in the PSAC this winter. She also clocked a 9.59 seconds in the 60m hurdles and also cleared 5 feet, 1 inch in the high jump during the pentathlon to qualify for the PSACs in those events as well.
Katie Butler and teammate Brigid Harron each tied for fifth in the high jump, each cleared 5-1 to qualify for the PSACs. Couple that with Wentz’s 5-1 clearance during the pentathlon competition, and West Chester will have three participants in that event at the PSAC Indoor Championships.
Jess Joseph qualified for the PSACs in the 3,000 with a time of 10:48.70 that placed her seventh overall. Lyndsey Ratasiewicz placed eighth in the mile run with a time of 5:23.29. Kristina Koutsorous finished the mile in 5:37.57 and finished ninth in the 3,000 with an 11:09.87.
Mary Gawbill bettered her PSAC time in the 800m with a 2:25.24, and Sam Smarkola did the same in the 200m with a clocking of 22.87. She also finished sixth in the 60m dash with a time of 8.20.
Lyndsay Nygren timed out in 1:03.44 in the 400m with teammates Danielle Howell (1:03.90) and Brigid Gallagher (1:04.64). Gallagher completed the 60m hurdles in 10.39 seconds. The 4x400m relay team consisting of Hughes, Nygren, Howell and Smarkola also placed fourth with a time of 4:06.66.
Kamber Schrann tied for seventh in the pole vault with a height of 9-10, which betters her PSAC qualifying mark. Miriam Hughes was sixth in the triple jump (35-3 ¼), and Liz Jackson put the shot 37-6.
West Chester is back in action next Sunday at the DeSchriver Invitational at East Stroudsburg University.