The University of Dayton track and field team ran in Bloomington, Ind., on Friday, Jan. 19, to compete in the Gladstein Invitational, hosted by Indiana University.
Heading into the invitational, the Flyers had been practicing since the fall in order to get ready for the meet.
“We started practice back in the fall, so it’s been an accumulation process ever since,” head coach Jason Francis said.
In the team’s last outing, UD finished in third place at the Bowling Green Opener. The field performers performed strongly, earning 50 points for the Flyers.
The meet started on Friday at noon with the pentathlon and concluded later that night with the 5,000-meter run.
UD performed strongly at the invitational, setting multiple personal records across the board.
Sophomore Maya Pedersen completed the 400-meter in 59.15 to place 12th.
In the 600, sophomore Kelsey McDonald set her personal record by finishing the race in 1:38.46 for second place.
Sophomore Chelsey VanHook also beat her personal best by four seconds in the 800, finishing in 2:18.56.
In the one mile run invitational, junior Lizzie Gleason just broke the five minute mark in passing the finish line in 4:59.55, earning third place. Junior Nicole Cargill took eighth with a time of 5:04.72.
In the 3,000, sophomore Nicole Armstrong broke her personal record, crossing the finish line in 10:14.69 in third place. Hot on her tail, sophomore Katie Ollier finished in sixth place beating her personal best with a time of 10:20.95.
The pole vaulting group, noted by Francis as possibly the top group of competitors on the team, had three top-10 finishers.
Junior Hanna Krizmanic led the Flyers in the event, leaping 3.90 meters into the air, breaking a personal record, to finish in third place. Junior Katrina Steinhauser had a good day vaulting 3.70 meters, earning sixth place. Sophomore Ashley DeMange finished in tenth place with 3.50 meters.
Senior Christine Borchers had a 16th place finish in the shot put with a top throw of 12.59 meters.
Francis was pleased with his team’s performance this weekend at the Gladstein Invitational.
“We performed much better this weekend, than last weekend,” Francis said. “We’re hoping to keep the momentum we have going into next week.”
Krizmanic said she was also satisfied with her team’s performance this weekend.
“I think we performed very well,” Krizmanic said. “We came back from Christmas break and performed the best we could.”
The next meet is the Youngstown Invitational on Friday, Jan. 25, in Youngstown, Ohio, hosted by Youngstown State University.
