UD gets ready for All-Ohio meet

By: KATIE OBEAR – Staff Writer

The University of Dayton women’s track and field team finished sixth place overall at its outdoor meet at Eastern Illinois University in the Big Blue Classic Saturday, April 5.

“It was a good test for us, we got some rare good Midwestern weather, so that was nice for the ladies to not only take advantage of the weather but to take advantage of the good competition that we got to see at the meet,” said head coach Jason Francis.

Other teams participating in the meet included host team Eastern Illinois State University, Northern Iowa University, Western Illinois University, Indiana State University, Bradley University, and Western Michigan State University.

Indiana State placed first in both the men’s and women’s meets and edged out Western Michigan, who finished in second place in the women’s meet, by five points.

“Our top performer was Nicole Cargill, who ended up winning the 1500m and a big [personal best] and then came back and ran a great 800 as well,” Francis said.

Cargill set a new personal record of 4:32:86 and also finished in first place in the 1500m.
Later Cargill ran the 800m and took 14th place overall.

“It felt really great, it was the first 1500m of the year and I was able to go out and put it all out there and win it… I snuck into the top five all time performances so that was great,” Cargill said.

The rest of the team also had strong performances. Seniors Cassie Grandstaff and Noelle Tazioli and juniors Maya Pedersen and Ashley DeMange finished seventh in the 4x100m relay. Senior Kassy Thomas finished 13th in the 400m dash alongside senior Mariah Curtis who finished 20th. Pedersen also set a personal best in the 200m dash, picking up 8th place.

The Flyers will compete in the All-Ohio Championships next weekend at the University of Cincinnati, April 11 to 12.

The All-Ohio Championship, which features many schools throughout Ohio, should shape up to be an interesting meet as the host has won the championship in recent years.

Some of the Flyer athletes will not participate in the weekend’s championship in Cincinnati, as they will be taking a weekend off. However, the entire team looks forward to supporting the UD squad that will compete.

“I am really excited for the team, after two outdoor meets under our belt, I think that everything is starting to come together and I think that a lot of people are going to put out a lot of really good performances this coming weekend,” Cargill said.