Elon Track and Field Poised for ECAC Indoor Championships

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University women’s track and field team enters the postseason portion of its indoor schedule this weekend at the 2019 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Indoor Championships. The three-day meet will be hosted by Boston University inside the BU Track and Tennis Center on March 1-3 with members of the Phoenix competing on the latter two days.

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“Looking forward to going back to Boston University for the site of the ECAC Indoor Championships,” said Elon director of track and field and cross country Mark Elliston. “I’m excited to see the group that we have going to compete this weekend and having a good showing.”

Follow the Action
Keep up with the action of the Phoenix this weekend via live results by going to the women’s track and field schedule page at elonphoenix.com. Other updates will be provided on Twitter at the program’s handle @ElonXCTF. Video streaming will be available throughout all three days of competition with a paid subscription to RunnerSpace PLUS+. A full recap of the each at the meets will be posted on elonphoenix.com following the conclusion of the meet.

About the ECAC
The acronym ECAC is short for Eastern College Athletic Conference. According to the ECAC website, it “is the nation’s largest athletic conference and only multi-divisional conference, with approximately 300 member institutions ranging across 16 states from Maine to North Carolina and westerly to Wisconsin.” This weekend’s women’s meet is officially titled the ECAC Division I Indoor Track & Field Championship.

This will be the fifth year that the Phoenix will compete at the ECACs. Elon competes in the ECAC for its indoor championship meet due to the Colonial Athletic Association not sponsoring indoor track and field.

In Competition for Elon at ECACs
The Phoenix will have nine individual athletes and two relay teams in competition at the ECACs this weekend. Below is a breakdown of the athletes and events that will represent Elon on Saturday and Sunday.

Melissa Anastasakis (one-mile)
Katie Arbogast (500-meters)
Skylar Barthelmes (weight throw)
Lauren Brzozowski (400-meter)
Coralea Geraniotis (5,000-meters)
Natacha Savioz (800-meters)
Chelsea Smith (one-mile)
Kristine Strazdite (shot put)
Alex Tudor (triple jump)
4×800-meter relay
4×400-meter relay

Last Time Out at ECACs
Last season, the Phoenix finished 10th overall at the ECAC Indoor Championships. Elon had a program-best 27 points at the meet and was one point shy of of tying Delaware as the top team from the Colonial Athletic Association with the Blue Hens sneaking into the top-10 with 28 points. Liberty took the team title on the women’s side with 84.5 total points.

Arbogast broke the school-record in the 500-meters by clocking a time of 1:13.22 in the race and finished as the runner-up in the finals – just two seconds shy of individual medalist honors. Bryanna Hames broke her own program mark in the indoor shot put with a throw of 15.33m in the event, also second overall.

The Phoenix’s distance medley relay team set a new 22-second school-record as the quartet clocked a time of 11:41.69. Elon finished third overall in the race. In the one-mile run, Anastasakis was seventh overall in the finals with her time of 4:52.52. The Phoenix’s 4×800-meter relay squad earned a sixth-place finish

On Deck
The Phoenix will gear up for the start of the 2019 outdoor campaign as the squad opens the season at the Charlotte Classic on March 15-16.