Women's Track & Field | 4/30/2015 10:19:00 PM
HILLSDALE, Mich. -- The Wayne State University women's outdoor track team, in just its third year of existence, is fourth out of 16 schools heading into the final day of competition at the 2015 GLIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
In WSU's inaugural season of 2013, the Warriors finished 10th at the conference meet with 21 points, then last year improved to sixth place with 45.5 points. After the first full day of events at the 2015 Championship, WSU is in fourth place with 29 points.
Grand Valley State leads with 83 points and is followed by Ashland (40.5), Findlay (31) and the Warriors. Trailing WSU are Hillsdale (25.5), Malone (19), Tiffin (13), Ferris State (10), Saginaw Valley State (9), Walsh (8), Northwood (3), Ohio Dominican (1) and Lake Erie (1). Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan and Lake Superior State have not scored.
"We had a tremendous day one," stated head coach
Rick Cummins. "Our multis girls (
Rachel Kloski and
Sydney Vaughn) finished off a very good meet. They are two rookies that have a ton of upside." Both Kloski (3,860 points) and Vaughn (3,832) broke the previous school record in the heptathlon. Kloski set personal bests in five events plus had not run the 800m in competition before. Meanwhile, Vaughn had personal bests in four events.
"The twins (Elizabeth and
Gabrielle Herriman) were awesome in the javelin. Thirteen points in the GLIAC throws. I'm so happy for them. It was just a tremendous performance," said an excited Cummins. Elizabeth shattered the school record with a toss of 41.89m (137-05), while Gabrielle had a personal best throw of 38.05m (124-10). Freshman
Lauren Bohn also had a personal best of 26.41m (86-08).
"CJ (
Chelsea Johnson) was so tough in the steeplechase tonight. She was second to the best woman in the nation and became the first automatic national championship qualifier in WSU women's track and field history. The top three in this race were big time," exclaimed Cummins. Johnson demolished the previous school record by over 14 seconds. In the process, she will become the first female track runner in school history to compete in all three championships (cross country, indoor and outdoor) in the same school year.
"Kayla (Balfour) closed it off with a gutsy effort in the 10K. She did what she needed to do," commented Cummins. Balfour notched her second provisional time this spring in the 10K by finishing second in a time of 36:10.95.
The 4x100 relay quartet of
Leah Ellis,
Kierra Johnson,
Jewel Wilson and Carr qualified for Friday's finals after recording a school record time of 48.30 on Thursday.
"The 100 hurdlers had great races. Both made provisional times and qualified for tomorrow's finals," said Cummins. Freshman
Karrington Seals and sophomore
Christina Kollien both bettered the previous school record with times of 14.23 and 14.24, respectively.
"We had solid performances by Dazmonique (Carr) in the 400 and Kayla (Smade) in the 1500," continued Cummins. Carr earned a spot in Friday's finals by recording the second-fastest 400m time in school history at 57.24. Smade also qualified for Friday's finals with a 1500m time of 4:37.65.
"Han (Dinh) had two tremendous efforts at 10-9 this afternoon. She was close. A great effort by someone who has improved nicely," added Cummins. She finished 11th at 3.13m (10-03.25).
Sophomore
Jewel Wilson had a personal best in the 100m, but no Warriors qualified for Friday's finals. Sophomore
Imani Bush had a season-best time in the 200m but did not finish in the top eight. Ellis set a school record in the 400m hurdles (1:05.89), but it was not enough to make Friday's finals. Vaughn also participated in the long jump on Thursday and set a personal best at 4.91m (16-01.50).
