Gorloks Grab Women's Track and Field Title
The Webster University women's track and field team grabbed the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) title on Saturday. The Gorloks took home 10 golds, out of 22 events, to finish with 260.50 team points. Webster racked up the points in the hurdles; where they took five of six spots. Gorloks Meghan Illig, Meredith Sowers, and Emma Teson swept the 400-meter hurdles with Illig posting a meet-best time of 1:06.13. Illig added a second gold in the 100-meter hurdles while Sowers took a second silver medal.
Webster also picked up golds in the triple jump and long jump where Johnae Hightower finished atop the competitors in both events. The Gorloks 4x100 relay team of Brittney Griffin, Donalda Desir, Vanessa Jones, and Hightower finished first with a time of 50.31 seconds while the quartet of Sowers, Desir, Minnell Fundora, and Illig also took home top honors in the 4x400 relay. Fundora added picked up a gold medal in the 1500 meter race while Sowers won the 800-meter race and Desir tallied her third medal of the weekend with a first-place finish in the 200-meter dash.
Greenville University finished second with 191.50 points, taking home five gold medals. The Panthers' Kylar Craig won the high jump while teammate Rachel Hanna took first in the pole vault. Marideth Tate grabbed gold in the hammer throw with a mark of 151'8" while her teammate Victoria Papez picked up a silver. The Panthers also got gold in the 100-meter dash when Taylor Tucker finished with a time of 12.72 seconds. The Panthers swept the 3000-meter steeplechase as Megan McKee led the trio followed by Shirley Estes and Brooke Goodyear.
In third place was Fontbonne University with 45 points. Sierra Moore took home gold for the Griffins in the shot put with a throw of 37'9". The Griffins also picked up four bronze medals on the weekend; discus throw, javelin throw, 4x100 relay, and the 4x400 relay.
Fourth place went to Spalding University with 40 points as Katie Suiters led the way for the Golden Eagles. Suiters grabbed the Golden Eagles only gold medal on the weekend, taking first place in the discus with a distance of 121'5"; which came on her second throw. Taylor Bent picked up a bronze in the hammer throw with a distance of 134'8".
Westminster College took fifth place with 28 points after strong showings in the long distance races. Jessica Kuykendall cruised to gold medal victories in both the 5000-meter run, finishing with a time of 18:38.33, and the 10,000-meter run, topping her closest competitor by nearly three minutes.
Eureka College finished in sixth with 24 points and took home gold in the javelin. Ashley Harfst took top honors with a throw of 108'8" while adding a silver in the discus. Her teammate Annaliese Miller also went home with a medal, picking up silver in the high jump.
Principia College totaled 19 points for seventh place. The Panthers grabbed a pair of bronze medals with Emily Gillespie finishing third in the pole vault and Afton Leslie took third in the 1500 meter race.
