Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU indoor track & field team returned to action Friday by competing in the Mastodon Invitational for the first time in program history at Purdue Fort Wayne. The Colonials claimed third out of eight teams, finishing with 104 points.
The host Mastodons won the invite with 135 points, followed by IUPUI with 106. Trailing RMU and rounding out the field was Northern Kentucky (86), Cleveland State (49), UIC (35), Wright State (33) and Detroit Mercy (15) in an all Horizon League field.
In the field events, senior
Estelle Katende won the shot put while junior
Keturah Hunter claimed the individual title in the weight throw. Katende produced a heave of 14.27 meters on her fifth throw of the afternoon in the event, finishing almost two meters ahead of the second-place finisher.
For Hunter, on her sixth and final toss of the weight throw she unleashed a distance of 18.04 meters to earn gold. She leapfrogged her teammate, senior
Yessie Valencia, who claimed silver with a distance of 17.26 meters on her fifth throw of the event.
In all, RMU took home each of the top five spots and six of eight in the weight throw to rack up 34 points.
RESULTS: Mastodon Invitational (2/12/21)
Sophomore
Alijah Caul finished third at 13.29 meters, while junior
Taylor Mears slotted fourth at 12.77 meters. Freshman
Alana Palmer (11.84 meters) claimed fifth, and senior
Harley Stuebgen (11.52 meters) finished eighth. The marks for Valencia, Mears, Palmer and Steubgen in the event established personal records.
Also in the shot put, Valencia finished fourth with a throw of 11.68 meters, while Caul finished fifth at 11.58 meters.
In the mile, senior
Martha Gardner shattered her personal record with a time of 5:14.24 to earn bronze. The time also ranks in the top 10 in program history, ranking fourth among the fastest Colonials to compete in the event.
Freshman
Gracie Parker put forth a solid effort in the sprints for the Colonials Friday, finishing second in the 60-meter dash (8.08 seconds) and fourth in the 60-meter hurdles (9.23). Sophomore
Lauren Chappell finished one spot behind Parker in fifth in the 60-meter hurdles at 9.41 seconds.
Chappell also ran the opening leg of the RMU 4x400-meter relay squad that finished third with a time of 4:10.66. Joining her on the squad was freshman
Rio Strosnider, senior
Brooke Oldfin and sophomore
Elicia Moore.
Moore also took home a top five finish in the 400-meter dash, crossing the finish line with a time of 59.50 seconds to earn bronze and establish a personal record. Joining Moore in finishing third in an event was rookie
Makena Nesbitt, who cleared 3.20 meters to earn bronze.
Also in the field events for RMU, junior
Tara Gologram took home the top leap for the Colonials in the long jump at 5.06 meters, while Chappell finished fourth in the high jump (1.45 meters).
RMU gets back to action Saturday, Feb. 20, by taking part in the Denison Invitational in Granville, Ohio.
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