Elon Women’s Track and Field Travels to Penn State National Invitational

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University women’s track and field team will compete at the prestigious Penn State National Invitational this weekend, beginning on Friday, Jan. 31 and concluding Saturday, Feb. 1, at the Horace Ashenfelter Indoor Track facility in University Park, Pa. The meet is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. on Friday.

Follow the Phoenix
Results of the meet will be posted on social media through Twitter at the handle @elonscores or the program’s handle @EU_XCTF.

Last Time Out
Elon captured the meet title during its last competition at the Liberty Open on Jan. 17-18. The Phoenix scored 303 points and defeated host and last year’s Big South Indoor champion Liberty, who finished second with 231. Elon won nine events at the meet with Carrie Abraham (long jump, high jump), Sydney Griffin (60-meter hurdles, 200-meter dash), Bria Turner (60-meters), Kimberly Johansen (1,000-meters), Elyse Bierut (3,000-meters), Jennifer Esposito (400-meters) and Jackie Madden (800-meters) taking home individual crowns.

In Competition This Weekend
Sprints
Scheduled to compete in the sprint events this weekend for the Phoenix are Griffin and Esposito along with Bria Bell, Jennifer Pash, and Veronica Luedke. Griffin will compete the 200-meter dash while Esposito will race in the 400-meters. Griffin won the 200-meters at Liberty with a time of 25.51, just edging out teammate Esposito, who was second overall with a time of 25.97. Esposito established a new personal-record at Liberty in the 400-meters after she crossed the line with a time of 58.06, fourth-best in school history.

Bell, Pash, Luedke and Esposito will make up the 4×400 meter relay team for the Phoenix. The group ran a time of 4:10.54 at Liberty to finish second overall.

Jumps
Abraham is slated to compete in each of the jump events after having a breakout performance at Liberty. The freshman from Winchester, Mass., captured the high jump title after clearing the bar at a height of 5’5” (1.65m). She also won the long jump crown with a mark of 17’8” (5.38m) and was second in the triple jump with a distance of 36’8.25″ (11.18m), the fourth-best mark in school history.

Sophomore Megan Kirschilng will join Abraham in the high jump event. The West Depfort, N.J., native finished second behind Abraham at the same height at Liberty, but need more attempts to advance.

Marie Borowycz and Jayna Coyle will also represent the maroon and gold in both the long and triple jumps. Borowycz had a fourth place standing in the triple jump with a mark of 34’7.75″ (10.56m) for followed by Coyle with a her mark of 34’7″ (10.54m).

Throws
Kayleigh Birks, Charlise Morgan and freshman Breanna Warren will compete in the throws for the maroon and gold. Morgan will compete in the weight throw along with Birks before joining Warren in the shot put.

Morgan was the runner-up in the weight throw at Liberty after a toss of 53’1.5″ (16.19m) in her first indoor event of the year. Birks joined Morgan in the top three of the event with her toss of 50’5.25″ (15.37m), the third-best mark in school history.

Distance
Four members of the Phoenix distance team will race at Penn State. Johansen and Bierut will compete in the 800-meters and 5,000-meters races, respectively. Senior Allyson Oram will run in the Invitational 5,000-meters while Haylee Dawe will join Bierut in the regular 5,000-meters.

Johansen set a new school-record in the 1,000-meter run at Liberty after crossing the line at a time of 2:54.55, nearly 11 seconds better than the previous program-mark. Bierut won the 3,000-meters at Liberty with a time of 10:14.05 in her first-ever collegiate indoor meet.

On Deck
Next on the Phoenix’s schedule is the High Point Invitational on Feb. 6, held at the JDL Fast Track Indoor Complex in Winston-Salem, N.C.