Panthers set Women's Team Scoring Record at Championship
Saturday was a celebration for the Greenville University women's track and field team as they set a new SLIAC championship record with 341 team points en route to a third consecutive title. The Panthers broke their own conference record, which they set last year, by three points thanks to 12 individual golds and an additional gold in the 4x400 relay.
The Panthers picked up two of their golds on Friday night when Anna Beth Vancil and Talahiva Talanoa started the scoring. Vancil picked up her first outdoor gold medal with a winning height of 5'1.75" in the high jump. Talanoa took top honors in the hammer throw with a mark of 145'4" for her first collegiate gold.
Other events on Friday night included the pole vault, javelin, and 10,000 meters. Principia's Mirsa Boyer locked up gold in the pole vault with a height of 8'5.5"; becoming the third consecutive Panther to win gold in the event. Westminster's Natalie Stewart shattered the conference championship record in the javelin with a distance of 125'4", besting the previous mark by over 14 feet. Katie Leeker became the first Fontbonne athlete to win the 10,000 meters.
Greenville continued their pace on Saturday's events with Tawny Rodriguez and Ashley Smith adding more golds from the Panthers throwers. Rodriguez won her third straight gold in the discus, beating her own SLIAC championship record with a mark of 133'3". Smith took gold in the shot put with a mark of 39'4".
With throwing events wrapped up the Panthers went to the track where Brook Schutt, Olivia Mansfield, and Gretchen Carie picked up wins. Schutt (5,000 meters) and Mansfield (800 meters) each picked up their first collegiate gold medals. Carie notched her second straight gold in the 3000 Steeplechase.
Cayden Sharp wrapped up her record-setting career with four more gold medals this weekend, extending her conference record to 17 career gold medals. Sharp picked up golds in the long jump (19'3.25"), 100 hurdles (14.66 seconds), 100-meter dash (12.19 seconds), and 200-meter dash (25.48 seconds); setting new SLIAC championship records in each of the four events. She added another two medals, for a total of 24 career medals; also a SLIAC record.
One of the events Sharp lost out on gold in was the triple jump, she finished 2nd, thanks to a historic jump by her teammate Sara Yakana. Yakana set a new championship record with a distance of 38'0", beating Sharp's previous record by 9.5".
Karissa Heffernan, from Eureka College, picked up her first SLIAC gold; winning the 1500-meter run with a time of 5:07.12. Moenaisa Sidique grabbed a second gold for Westminster College as she defended her title in the 400-meters.
Vanessa Jones added to her medal collection with a gold in the 400-meter hurdles, for the second time in her career, with a winning time of 1:10.24.
The Greenville 4x400 relay team of Alexis Roberts, Olivia Mansfield, Vanessa Compton, and Eyonna Owens extended the Panther title run in that event to three years. Winning the 4x100 relay was the Principia College team of Mirsa Boyer, Haley Hill, Lessly Amwikato, and Hannah Wymer.
Webster University finished 2nd in team points with 66 and was followed by Principia College with 42 points. Westminster College tallied 34 points with Eureka College scoring 31 points. Fontbonne University finished with 23 points and was followed by Spalding University (4 points) and Blackburn College (2 points).
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