LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference outdoor track & field season continued last week with six teams in action including Colorado College and Trinity opening their 2019 spring campaigns.
Austin College and Dallas competed at the unscored Marc Randal Classic hosted by Texas-Tyler last weekend. 'Roos freshman RJ Navarro set a new program record in the 5,000-meters, placing 15th overall with a time of 16:12.68 to lead the men's squad, while senior Hannah Richards' ninth-place finish (5:32.31) in the 1,500-meters was the top performance on the women's side. The Crusaders once again got a solid performance from senior Kevin McGuirk. McGuirk broke the school record in the 400-meter hurdles for the second time in as many years posting a time of 59.69 (5th) and returned to competition in the 110-meters hurdles for the first time in two years notching a mark of 18.20 (7th). Dallas freshman Anna Wilgenbusch continued her outstanding rookie campaign with a top-three finish in the 1,500-meters, finishing third with a time of 5:11.85 to lead the women's team.
Colorado College opened its outdoor season in California at the Long Beach State Opener against teams across all divisions. Junior Max Blackburn set a school record in the 3,000-meters, completing the race in 8:58.55 finishing 24th, breaking the previous mark by over five seconds. Senior Henry Baldwin posted the Tigers' lone top-10 finish on the men's side, finishing third in the high jump with a leap of 1.86m. On the women's side, freshman Megan Koch also posted a top-ten finish with her performance in the 1,500-meters crossing the line in 5:00.86 to earn 10th and claiming the fastest time of all Div. III runners in that event. Another freshman, Mary Ewing, placed 11th in the 400-meter dash in a time of 1:05.92 to highlight the Tiger women's performances.
Trinity hosted Schreiner, Southwestern, Texas Lutheran and several other teams across all divisions for its non-scored Tiger Open last week to begin its outdoor season. Schreiner sophomore Kendall Lee finished 18th in the 100-meters (13.49) and 16th in the 200-meters (28.10) to lead all Mountaineers women's performances, while freshman Matthew Wilding posted his career best in the 100-meters crossing the line in 11.75.
The Pirates were led on the men's side by senior John Hattan's second-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:11.21. Sophomore Devin Rosas and senior Sam Grubs also turned in top-five finishes on the afternoon as Rosas finished second in the high jump (1.85m) and Grubs was fifth in the hammer throw (42.49m). Women's highlights included junior Mallory Harkins turning in the second fasted time of all Div. III runners and fifth overall in the 400-meters, crossing the line in 1:04.32.
TLU was led by senior Garrett Garza on the men's side after he posted the top mark in all of Div. III in the shot put, winning the event with a new school record toss of 16.78 meters. Garza also finished second in the discus (45.55m) and sixth in the hammer (36.63m). On the track, junior Chris Torres finished sixth overall and turned in the top time of all Div. III runners in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.00. The TLU women's program was led by senior Cortnee Priour winning the long jump with a mark of 5.51 meters and finishing second in the triple jump (10.92m).
Trinity had several strong performances including senior Abigail Bannon-Schneebeck's second-place performance in the 400-meter hurdles. Her time of 1:02.33 is currently the fastest time in all of Div. III. Classmate Mia Loseff set a new school record in the pole vault, finishing second with a mark of 3.65 meters, snapping the previous 14-year-old record. The Tiger men's team was led by sophomore Peyton Tuggle earning fifth-place in the 100-meter dash (10.93), fourth-place in the 200-meters (22.04) and ran a leg on the second-place 4x100 meter relay (41.53) and second-place 4x400 meter relay (3:23.91). In the field TU freshman Robert Slaybaugh finished fifth in both the shot put (14.21m) and discus (43.48m)
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference outdoor track takes a break from action this week but will return on March 16th, highlighted by Johnson & Wales opening its outdoor season at the CSU-Pueblo Early Bird.
