Elon Track and Field to Compete at High Point Team Challenge

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University women’s track and field team is back in competition this week as the Phoenix travels to Winston-Salem, N.C., for the High Point Team Challenge on Thursday, Feb. 6, inside the JDL Fast Track Indoor facility. The meet is slated to begin at 5 p.m.

Last Time Out
Elon competed at the prestigious Penn State National Invitational this past weekend, Jan. 31-Feb. 1, for the second straight season. Several members of the program had a number of record-breaking performances at the meet, highlighted by a new school-record in the 5,000-meters by senior Allyson Oram.

Oram ran a time of 17:14.44 in the invitational 5K race and was the first collegiate runner to cross the finish line and was second overall. The Marlborough, Mass., native broke her previous school mark by nearly five seconds.

Elyse Bierut recorded the second-fastest performance in school-history as she clocked a time of 17:38.98 in the regular 5,000-meters race at Penn State, finishing fifth overall in the race.

Jennifer Esposito continued her strong start to the 2014 indoor season as she ran a time of 57.16 in the 400-meter dash, now the third-best performance all-time at Elon. Kimberly Johansen won her heat in the 800-meter run with her time of 2:14.82, the third-best performance in the event at Elon.

The 4×400-meter relay team also ran the third-best time on the school’s all-time performance list this past weekend. The quartet of Bria Bell, Jennifer Pash, Veronica Luedke and Esposito finished with a time of 3:52.70 and was 11th overall in the event.

Here is an event-by-event look at who will compete for the Phoenix on Thursday.

Sprints/Hurdles
Bell, Esposito, Luedke, Pash along with Kayleigh Birks, Samantha Brown, Sydney Griffin, Simone Jackson and Bria Turner are expected to compete in the hurdle and sprints for the maroon and gold. Griffin was one the few members of the program besides the 4×400-meter relay team to compete last weekend in the sprints for Elon at Penn State as she clocked in a qualifying time of 8.78 in the 60-meter hurdles.

Jumps
Carrie Abraham, Marie Borowycz, Jayna Coyle, Melinda Hersey, Megan Kirschling, Haley Laird, Kayla Prior and Claire Smith represent the group competing in the jumps for Elon with Hersey and Smith being involved in the pole vault.

Abraham competed in the long jump at Penn State and had a distance of 17’3.5”, finishing 20th overall. She and Kirschling will also represent Elon in the high jump.

Throws
Birks along with Kimberlyn Holt, Jennifer Jarvis, Charlise Morgan and Breanna Warren will all compete in the throwing events for the maroon and gold. Morgan finished 12th overall in the weight throw last weekend with a distance of 50’6” (15.39m) and had a toss of 47’5” (14.36m) in the shot put, placing in the top-five.

Warren had a mark of 42’1″ (12.84m) in the shot put, recording the fourth-best performance in program history in her first-ever collegiate meet.

Distance
Oram, Bierut and Johansen highlight the eight members of the distance team that’s scheduled to compete on Thursday. A few members of the distance squad also competed last weekend at the Hilton Garden Inn Invitational at the JDL Fast Track facility. Tereza Novotna was fourth overall in the one-mile run as she clocked in a time of 5:04.95 at that meet.

On Deck
Elon returns to Lynchburg, Va., to compete at the Liberty Quad next Friday, Feb. 14. It will be the second meet of the year at Liberty since the Phoenix won the Liberty Open on Jan. 17-18, earlier in the year.