WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The Elon University women’s track and field team kicked off competition on Friday, May 1, at the Phoenix’s first-ever Colonial Athletic Association Outdoor Championship meet at William & Mary’s Zable Stadium.
The opening day of the meet saw the maroon and gold sitting in sixth overall with 20 points, but with a number of its athletes qualifying for the final rounds tomorrow in a number of its events. Host William & Mary leads the field with 78.5 points on the women’s side.
“We’re in a good spot,” said Elon director of track and field and cross country Mark Elliston. We saw a number of our athletes set some new personal-records and qualify for the finals after the preliminary rounds today. It’s shaping up to be an exciting day tomorrow.”
In the heptathlon, freshmen Emily Dixon and Lydia Laws are doing well in the multi events. Dixon won the heptathlon 100-meter hurdles and shot put while finishing as the runner-up in the high jump and the 200-meter dash.
In the 10,000-meter run, sophomore Shelby Cuddeback was Elon’s top finisher in the race with a time of 36:32.51, fourth overall. That time is now the third-fastest in school history. Teammate Haylee Dawe was fifth in the race after crossing the line with a time of 36:39.26. The Phoenix also had a couple of top-10 finishes in the 5,000-meters with Jenny Gallagher (seventh, 16:50.21) and Elyse Bierut (eighth, 16:56.13). Those times are now the second and third fastest performances on the program’s all-time list, respectively.
Sydney Griffin qualified for the finals of the 200-meters with her preliminary time of 24.67, the second-fastest time in the prelim round. She also clocked the fastest time in the prelims of the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.81. Jen Esposito will also compete in the final round of the 400-meter hurdles after she winning the preliminaries with a time of 1:00.26.
Kimberly Johansen will look to win the 800-meters after she clocked a time of 2:12.56 in the prelims. Johansen also qualified for the finals in the 1,500-meters after she ran a prelim-best time of 4:32.60.
In the long jump, Dixon was the Phoenix top jumper in the event with a leap of 18’ 5.75” (5.63m), fifth overall. Carrie Abraham was sixth with her jump of 18’ 5.25” (5.62m).
The championships resume tomorrow morning with the heptathlon at 10 a.m. Field events also kick off at 10 a.m. with the finals of the track events starting at 12:30 p.m.