Elon Track and Field Gears Up for SoCon Indoor Championships

ELON, N.C. – After a season of top finishes and record breaking performances, the Elon track and field team travels to the JDL Fast Track Complex in Winston Salem, N.C., for the 2013 Southern Conference Indoor Championships. The Phoenix will have 23 athletes participate in the two-day event, which is scheduled to begin on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 10 a.m.

The Phoenix will look to better its fifth place standing of a year ago in the league championships. Elon scored 72.3 points in 17 scored events with Louise Prevoteau winning the individual title in the pentathlon with a then-school record 3,566 points.

Elon competed at the JDL Fast Track Complex earlier in the season at the Wake Forest Invitational on Jan. 19. The maroon and gold won the meet with 92 points.

Live Coverage
Live results, daily recaps, daily photos and video highlights can be found on the Southern Conference website.il

Last Time Out
Several members of the Phoenix had great performances last weekend, Feb. 15-16, at the Virginia Tech Challenge. Freshman Sydney Griffin set a new school record in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.62 and took fourth overall. The Marietta, Ga., native was rewarded as the SoCon’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week on Wednesday.

Kimberlyn Holt also set a new school record at the meet in the weight throw with a toss of 52’4” (15.97m).

In Competition at the SoCon Championships
Sprints and Hurdles
Griffin Bria Bell, Kayleigh Birks, Samantha Brown, Simone Jackson, Veronica Luedke, Jennifer Pash, and Bria Turner will represent the maroon and gold in the sprinting events this weekend. Griffin ran a season-best time of 25.05 in the 200-meters at Virginia Tech, the second fastest mark all-time at Elon. Bell ran a season-best 57.74 in the 400-meters at the Gene Anderson Invitational on Feb. 2, where she finished second overall and is the second fastest time on the SoCon list this season.

Griffin will be the lone participate for Elon in the 60-meter hurdles.

Jumps
Prevoteau, Marie Borowycz and Janell McNeil will compete in the long and triple jump events. Prevoteau was the runner-up in the long jump at Virginia Tech with a season-best mark of 18’4.25” (5.59m), the third-best on the program’s all-time performance list.

Prevoteau, Megan Kirschling and Haley Laird will represent the Phoenix in the high jump. Like Griffin, Kirschling has had record-breaking performances as a freshman, breaking her own school record in the high jump at the Gene Anderson Invitational clearing the bar at 5’10” (1.78m), best in the SoCon this season.

Distance
The Elon distance group should have a great showing this weekend with Haylee Dawe, Jenny Gallagher, Caroline McCaslin, Tereza Novotna, Allyson Oram, Christine Pacewicz, Ellie Taff and Emily Tryon all in competition. Oram claimed the title in the 3,000-meter run after setting a meet record at the Liberty Quad with a time of 10:03.88. Novotna and Dawe also broke into the top-five in the race at Liberty. Tryon broke her own school record in the 3,000-meter race at the Penn State National with a time of 10:03.87.

Novotna ran a season-best time of 5:01 at the Wake Forest Invitational, the second fastest time on the conference list. Pacewicz set a new personal-record in the race with a time of 5:11.80 at the Penn State National.

Throws
Birks, Holt and Charlise Morgan will compete for the maroon and gold in the throwing events. Morgan had previously held the school record in the weight throw after her performance at the Penn State National with a toss of 52’1” (15.87m). She still holds the school record in the shot put with a mark of 47’4.25” (14.43m) at the Wake Forest Invitational, the best performance in the conference this season.

Other Events
Prevoteau will look to defend her title in the pentathlon and will be a member of the 4×400 relay team with Bell, Pash and Luedke. The 4,000-meter distance medley team will be Gallagher, Brown, Taff and Pacewicz.