Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU women's track & field team continued action in the 2023 Horizon League Outdoor Championships Saturday in Youngstown, Ohio, at Farmers National Bank Field. The Colonials have scored nine points through nine events that have been scored.
TEAM LEADERBOARD
Youngstown State leads the field after two days of competition with 115 points, while Milwaukee owns 100 points to sit in second place. Rounding out the top five is Purdue Fort Wayne (50), Oakland (29) and IUPUI (16).
SILVER SURFER
Fifth-year
Tara Gologram garnered silver Saturday in the long jump to earn All-Horizon League Second Team accolades. Gologram finished with a leap of 5.92 meters (19'5.25"), just a shade off her season best of 5.94 meters (19'6") she set last week at the Mountaineer Twilight. Also competing for RMU in the event was sophomore
Rayna Todero, who notched a distance of 5.45 meters (17'10.75").
RECORD BREAKER
Garnering arguably the biggest moment of the day for the Colonials was sophomore
Grace Mason, who qualified for the finals in the 800-meter and in the process set a new school record in the event. Mason finished at 2:15.09, breaking the previous record that was set almost 30 years ago. Laura Rivera had owned the previous school record of 2:15.18 that was established at the Panther Relays (4/18/94).
HEPTATHLON
Senior
Lauren Chappell scored for the Colonials in the heptathlon Saturday, finishing eighth by compiling 3,951 points. In the long jump, Chappell posted a leap of 4.82 meters (15'9.75") to finish fifth and accrue 511 points while also unleashing a throw of 25.21 meters (82'8") on her first attempt in the javelin to add 386 more points to her tally. In the 800-meter, Chappell closed with a time of 2:37.39 to score 603 points.
SPEED SPEED SPEED
A number of Colonials took part in the preliminaries in the sprints Saturday, with a number moving on to the finals Sunday with qualifying performances. In the 100-meter dash, sophomore
Maddie Raymond finished fourth with a time of 11.90 seconds to move into the finals. Her time is a season best and marks just the third time in program history a student-athlete has finished under 12 seconds in the 100-meter dash. Raymond set the program record in the event last year thanks to a time of 11.68 seconds at the P3R Track & Field Complex at the RMU Island Sports Center.
BIG PLAY RAY
Raymond also qualified for the finals in the 200-meter dash Saturday, crossing the finish line with a time of 24.60 seconds. That time is just off the school record of 24.57 seconds that was established earlier this season by senior
Elicia Moore at the P3R Track & Field Complex. Moore, meanwhile, just missed bettering her own record in the 400-meter dash, qualifying for the finals with a time of 56.55 seconds. The school record mark for Moore came a few weeks back at the Benson/Hodge Memorial Invitational with a time of 56.53 seconds.
THE LAKE CITY
Junior
Gracie Parker also moved into the finals of the 100-meter hurdles, finishing third Saturday with a time of 14.06 seconds, a personal record. The time cracks the top 10 all-time at RMU, with Parker ranking second in the event to only Genita Dickey (1998-2001). Jesseca Hudson-Turpin of Purdue Fort Wayne posted the top time in the prelims Saturday at 13.80 seconds, followed by Cloey Fare (14.04) of Milwaukee.
UP NEXT
The 2023 Horizon League Outdoor Track & Field Championships conclude Sunday, May 7. Competition begins at 9:00 a.m. with the high jump, while the triple jump is slated to start at 11:00 a.m.
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