Elon Track and Field Opens Season at Wake Forest Invitational

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Elon University women’s track and field team began the 2014 indoor campaign at the Wake Forest Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 11, inside the JDL Fast Track Indoor Complex.

Competing in its first meet as a team since May of last season, the maroon and gold had a few strong showings for head coach Mark Elliston.

“I’m little bit excited about today, but also I know that we need to continue to work,” said Elliston. “With this first meet, I know now what we need to do to get things moving in order to be where I know where we can be, but we did have some good bright spots so I’m really excited for what’s ahead.”

Elon had a strong performance overall in the 400-meters with Jennifer Esposito and Jennifer Pash moving into the program’s top-five on the all-time performance list. Esposito won her heat with a time of 58.54, moving into fourth-place all-time in school history, and finished eighth overall. Pash was 10th in the race with a time of 58.81, the fifth-best mark all-time at Elon.

In the 60-meter hurdles, Sydney Griffin and Esposito ran qualifying times of 9.01 and 9.25 respectively and just missed out on making the finals. Simone Jackson just missed breaking into the program’s top-five all-time list in the 60-meter dash with her qualifying time of 7.93. Bria Turner (8.02) and Kayleigh Birks (8.28) also competed in the race for the Phoenix.

Griffin was the Phoenix’s top runner in the 200-meter dash as the sophomore finished with a time of 25.72. Jackson and Turner were first and second in their heat with times of 26.65 and 27.24, respectively.

Birks set a new personal-record in the weight throw with a toss of 47’1” (14.35m) and was seventh overall in the event. Kimberlyn Holt finished in the top-10 with a throw of 46’0” (14.02). Holt also threw in the shot put and finished 12th with a mark of 37’8.75” (11.50m).

Megan Kirschling was fifth in the high jump after clearing the bar at 5’3.75” (1.62m). Freshman Carrie Abraham also cleared the bar at the same height, but finished seventh after needing more attempts.

Elon performed well in the 3,000-meters taking three of the top five spots. Sabina Bains was the first Phoenix runner to cross the finish line in third place with her time of 10:57.55. Following Bains was Kylie Womack (10:58.40, 4th) and Emily Dunne (11:01.68, 5th), respectively. Jackie Madden ran a time of 2:24.27 in the 800-meter run, finishing in the top-10.

In the jumps, Abraham leaped a mark of 36’3” (11.05m) in the triple jump and was tenth in the event. Marie Borowycz was the Phoenix’s top finisher in the long jump with a distance of 16’8”.

The Phoenix 4×400 “A” relay team of Bria Bell, Samantha Brown, Pash and Esposito finished with a time of 4:03.2, good for sixth overall.

Elon will return to action next weekend, Jan. 17-18, at the Liberty Open, in Lynchburg, Va.