Elon Track And Field – Personal and School Records Fall at Aggie Last Chance Meet

GREENSBORO, N.C – Junior Sydney Griffin broke her own school-record in the 100-meter hurdles as members of the Elon University women’s track and field team closed out the regular-season on Sunday, May 17, at the Aggie Last Chance Meet hosted by North Carolina A&T at Irwin Belk Track.

Results

Griffin clocked a time of 13.53 in the finals of the 100-meter hurdles, finishing sixth overall. The Marietta Ga., native broke her previous school-record time of 13.56 in the race and vaulted into the top-48 on the performance list in the event for the NCAA East Preliminaries.

“We worked the plan and knew that it was in there for her to do well today,” said Elon director of track and field and cross country, Mark Elliston. “Coming into this meet, we knew it was going to be great competition and a nice day. Those are perfect ingredients for a great time.

“She broke the school record and improved her time for the regionals. It was a great performance and I’m so proud of her. I expect her to compete at the next stage with confidence moving forward.”

Tereza Novotna captured the 1,500-meters title after running the third-fastest time in program history. The Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, native ran a new personal-record time of 4:27.60 – three seconds faster than the runner-up.

Jen Esposito also set a personal-record in her event, the 400-meter dash. The Mansfield, Mass., native ran a time of 55.50 in the race and was fifth overall. That performance sits third all-time in program history.

“We had a different plan with Jen,” said Elliston. “We wanted to get her going fast and just running all out in the one lap race without the hurdles. Her time (for regionals) is already very good, so I wanted to see what she can do in a regular 400-meter race and she did with a personal-best and third all-time on our performance list.”

In throws, Bre’anna Warren was third in the discus throw with her mark of 153’ 5” (46.77m) while freshman Bryanna Hames was fourth with her heave of 152’ 5” (46.47m).

Today was also the final day of competition for Elon men’s cross country All-American senior Luis Vargas in an Elon uniform. Vargas competed in the 1,500-meters and was the runner-up with a time of 3:54.25 to close out his career officially with the maroon and gold.

The Phoenix will send a group to the NCAA East Preliminaries in Jacksonville, Fla., on May 28-30. The final list for the preliminary round will be set later this week as Elon has five athletes currently within or near the top-48 of the NCAA East qualifying performance list in their respective events in Esposito (400-meter hurdles), Griffin (100-meter hurdles), Kimberly Johansen (1,500-meters), Megan Kirschling (high jump) and Novotna (3,000-meter steeplechase).