Six New School Records Pace Eagles To A Third-Place Finish In KCAC Indoor Championship
MARYVILLE, Mo. -- A new school and meet record in the 4x400-meter relay paced the Avila University women's track and field team to a third place finish in the KCAC Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday. Helen Thames, Tenka Stringer, Breonne Maltbia and Murielle Mercer clocked a time of 3:57.95, shaving nearly a second off the previous school best and three seconds faster than the NAIA B standard.
Thames also added points for the Eagles in the 400-meter finals, with a school-record time of 56.96 good for third in the event and qualification for the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
The 600-meter race saw three more Eagles add points to the scoreboard, as Mercier (1:47.03), Abigail Conner (1:48.24) and Nancy Chicas (1:50.82) finished fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
Stringer bettered her season-best time in the 800-meter run, booking a trip to Brookings with her second-place finish. She finished in a school-record time of 2:17.87, just three-tenths behind Shelby Hundley of Friends University and three seconds clear of third-place finisher Maria Geesaman (York). Also adding a runner-up finish for Avila was Penny Fenn, who outkicked Friends's Miranda Tenove to record a time of 3:13.81 in the 1.000-meter race.
In the 60-meter hurdles, freshman Kaylee Lunn won her heat, posting a time of 9.48 seconds to take second in the event and better her previous school-record mark of 9.73.
Avila also recorded points in the long relays, picking up a second-place finish in the 4x800-meter event and a fourth-place finish in the Distance Medley Relay.
On the field side of the ledger, Avila added points in four of the five field events entered, topped by a fourth-place finish from Shyrelle Yates in the triple jump. Valencia Eason's effort of 12.38m in the shot put was also a new school record, good for fifth in the event, and Alyssa Sipes also picked up a new school best in the weight throw with a mark of 14.26m.
A full list of meet results is available courtesy of TFRRS.
