Elon Track and Field Opens Outdoor Competition at Coastal Carolina

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University women’s track and field team opens its 2015 outdoor season this weekend, March 13-14, at the Coastal Carolina Invitational in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The meet will take place at the Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium.

Live Coverage
Coverage of the meet will be available on Twitter through the team’s handle at @EU_XCTF or at @elonscores.

Last Time Out
Select members of the Phoenix competed at the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Indoor Championships in Boston last weekend, March 6-8. Elon had a total of 10 athletes compete at the meet and finished 21st overall.

Sophomore Kimberly Johansen broke her own school-record in the 800-meters at the ECAC meet with a time of 2:09.01 in the preliminaries. She finished fifth overall in the finals of the race with a time of 2:09.80. Sydney Griffin was fourth overall in the 60-meter hurdles at the ECACs with a season-best time of 8.72.

Elyse Bierut set a new personal-best time of 9:39.51 in the 3,000-meters and was 12th overall in the race at the ECAC Championships.

Elon Geared for Inaugural Season in CAA
The Phoenix will enter its first foray into outdoor competition as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. Elon becomes the eighth member of the league for women’s track and field joining defending champion Delaware, College of Charleston, James Madison, Northeastern, Towson, UNCW and William & Mary.

Top Performers Returning for Phoenix
Last season, the maroon and gold sent a program-best five athletes to compete at the NCAA East Preliminaries. Three of those performers return this season in juniors Jen Esposito (400-meter hurdles), Griffin (100-meter hurdles) and Megan Kirschling (high jump). Each athlete won a Southern Conference title in their respective event last year and also competed at the ECAC meet last weekend in Boston.

Tereza Novotna narrowly missed out on earning a bid the to NCAA Prelims in the 3,000-meters steeplechase last season. Novotna also captured the SoCon title in the event and set a new school-record with her time of 10:29.28. The Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, native also competed for her native country in the event last summer.

Bre’anna Warren also returns after winning the SoCon championship in the discus throw. The sophomore from Greensboro, N.C., set a new school-record in the event with a heave of 153’ 2” (46.68m).

On Deck
Elon returns to competition in a couple of weeks at the Raleigh Relays, hosted by NC State, on March 27-28.