Trinity Nips Texas Lutheran to Win 2015 SCAC Women's Track & Field Title

Trinity Nips Texas Lutheran to Win 2015 SCAC Women's Track & Field Title

(All photos by Josh Moczygemba) 

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The newest rivalry in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference had another chapter written on Saturday as Trinity University turned the tables on Texas Lutheran University to pull out a 13-point victory at the 2015 SCAC Women's Track & Field Championship. Official Championships Website | Team Scores | Complete Results

The Texas Lutheran women had earned their first SCAC title (and fifth overall conference title) at the 2014 championships, defeating Trinity by 26 points. But on Saturday, Trinity got some measure of revenge to pull out the 13-point victory (248-235) to earn the program its second conference title in three years and ninth overall.

The league's last great women's track and field rivalry was arguably Rhodes College and Trinity. The two traded championships for a five-year stretch between 1995 and 1999 with Trinity winning three and Rhodes winning two. The average margin of victory over that five year run was just 8.5 points.

It remains to be seen if the TLU/Trinity women's track rivalry will remain as competitive as the old Rhodes/Trinity rivalry, but there is no doubt that the last two SCAC championshps have been a two-horse race.

Trinity's Bailey Drury was a huge reason the Tigers came out on top this year as the junior earned SCAC Female Track & Field Athlete of the Meet honors after posting a first-place finish in the 400 meter dash, a second place finish in the 200 meter dash and a third place finish in the 100 meter dash. She was also a member of the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay teams and earned 29 points for her team on the weekend. Bailey is just the second Trinity female student-athlete to earn Athlete-of-the-Meet honors as Anecia Richardson earned the recognition following the 2013 meet. (Interview)

Texas Lutheran got off to a great start on Saturday morning, sweeping the top three spots in the discuss throw. Brielle Brown earned gold medal honors with her winning toss of 122 feet, 7 inches. Teammates Meredith Berger (108 feet, 3 inches) and Haley Lasseter (107 feet, 3 inches) finished second and third, respectively.

Trinity struck gold in the high jump competition with Sarah Pickett. Pickett, who had finished second a year ago. won this year's event with a leap of 5 feet, 5 inches. Texas Lutheran's Marlena Hunt finished second, clearing 4 feet, 9 3/4 inches. Haleigh Garcia of Texas Lutheran and Avla Loper of Colorado College finished tied for third as both also cleared 4 feet, 9 3/4 inches but needed more attempts to do so.

On the track, Trinity's 4x100 relay team of Nkolika Nweke, Elizabeth Peters, Drury and Brittney Sullivan finished first with a time of 48.51. Texas Lutheran placed second in a time of 49.54 and the University of Dallas finished third with a time of 53.26.

Britney Sullivan gave Trinity another individual first place finish with a jump of 17 feet, 11 inches in the long jump. TLU's Garcia and Hunt finished second and third respectively with jumps of 16 feet, 10 3/4 inches and 16 feet, 10 1/2 inches.

TLU once again posted an awards stand sweep in the javelin throw. Halev Lesseter won the individual title with a toss of 94 feet, 2 inches. Teammates Megan Lee (88 feet, 7 inches) and Meredith Berger (86 feet, 3 inches) finished second and third.

Trinity's Mariana Sigala finished first in the 1,500 meter run with a winning time of 5:01.40. Brianna Timourian of Southwestern was second in a time of 5:02.41 and Patty Atkinson of Colorado College finished third in a time of 5:05.46.

Nativita Kaminski of Texas Luthean finished first in the 100 meter hurdes in a time of 15.30. Trinity's Abigail Sheppard was second with a time of 15.64 and Texas Lutheran's Ranecia Faison was third in a time of 15.75.

Trinity's Drury earned top honors in the 400 meter dash (58.51) and was followed by teammate Katie Groke (59.37) and Texas Lutheran's Sarah Randall (59.81).

Nkolika Nweke of Trinity earned the "Fastest Woman in the SCAC" unofficial crown with her first-place finish in the 100 meter dash (12.21). TLU's Brittany Steubing was second (12.50) and Trinity's Drury was third (12.79).

Mariana Sigala of Trinity won the 800 meter run for the third consecutive year, winning this year with a finishing time of 2:20.49. Colorado College teammates Stefani Messick and Duranva Freeman finished second and third, respectively, with times of 2:21.80 and 2:26.04.

Sandra Henderson of Texas Lutheran won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:04.39. Trinity's Katie Groke was second in a time of 1:05.41 and TLU's Ranecia Faison was third with a time of 1:06.16.

With her victory in the 200 meter dash, Trinity's Nweke became the 17th female to complete the 100-200 sweep, as she crossed the finish line in a time of 25.63. Drury was second with a time of 26.14 and TLU's Steubing was third in a time of 26.15.

Leah Wessler of Colorado College, after winning top honors in the women's 6K at the 2014 SCAC Cross Country Championships, added a 5,000 meter run title to her award's chest as she crossed the line in a winning time of 18:51.02. Her teammate, Rebecca Lavietes, was second in a time of 18:56.16 and Trinity's Michelle Obendorf was third in a time of 19:33.01.

In the final event of the meet, Trinity University picked up its third straight victory in the 4x400 relay. The team of Groke, Drury, Julie Camp and Sigala won in a finishing time of 4:01.63. Texas Lutheran placed second in a time of 4:06.98 and Colorado College was third at 4:08.61.