Elon Track and Field Heads to Duke Invitational This Weekend

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University women’s track and field team travels to Durham, N.C., for the Duke Invitational this weekend, April 19-20. The two-day meet will take place at the Morris Williams Track & Field Stadium.

WEBSITE PREVIEW

Follow the Action
Keep up with the action of the meet via live results by going to the women’s track and field schedule page at elonphoenix.com. Other updates of the meet will be provided on Twitter at the program’s handle @ElonXCTF. A full recap of the day will be posted on elonphoenix.com following the conclusion of the meet.

Meet Info
About 52 teams are scheduled to compete at the meet this weekend. Among some of the notable programs in competition includes Appalachian State, Campbell, Charlotte, College of Charleston, Davidson, ECU, George Mason, High Point, Liberty, Minnesota, North Carolina A&T, UNCG, UNCW, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, William & Mary, Winthrop and host Duke.

The meet opens on Friday at 9 a.m. with the women’s hammer throw along with the men’s 5,000-meters. On Saturday, the men’s discus kicks off the field events at 11 a.m. while track events are scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. with the women’s 4×100-meter relay.

Last Time Out
Last weekend, the Phoenix split for meets at the Aggie Invitational and at the Charlotte Invitational. At the Aggie Invitational hosted by North Carolina A&T, the Phoenix had two athletes, Jordan Haywood (100-meters) and Natacha Savioz (800-meters), set new personal-bests at the meet in their respective events. Savioz clocked a time of 2:09.35, a new personal-record for the Vouvry, Switzerland, native. She finished third overall in the race and posted the second-fastest time in school history in the event.

Haywood ran a prelim time of 12.11 in the 100-meters, just missing out on advancing to the finals after finishing 11th. The freshman would set a new personal-best and the third-fastest time in school history in the event.

Freshman Kristine Strazdite also stood out at the Aggie Invitational earning a pair of event wins. The Valmiera, Latvia, native won the discus with a throw of 140′ 11″ (42.96m), edging out teammates Kathleen Collins and Skylar Barthlemes. Collins was the runner-up with a throw of 135′ 3″ (41.24m) while Barthelmes was third with a heave of 135′ 2″ (41.21m).

Strazdite also took first in the shot put with her throw of 43′ 4.25″ (13.21m). Barthelmes was fourth with a toss of 39′ 2.5″ (11.95m) and Charlotte Bradsher was 12th overall with a heave of 36′ 5″ (11.10m).

Barthelmes was the Phoenix’s top finisher with a throw of 161′ 7″ (49.27m) in the hammer throw and was second overall. Bradsher was third with a mark of 156′ 9″ (47.78m) while Collins earned a spot in the top-10 with a throw of 123′ 7″ (37.67m).

At the Charlotte Invitational, Melissa Anastasakis led the maroon and gold in the 1,500-meters as the Hillsdale, Ontario, native had a time of 4:26.73 and was sixth overall. Chelsea Smith was 11th with her time of 4:30.91 while Coralea Geraniotis was 13th at 4:33.99.

Elon to Host the 2019 CAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
The Phoenix will host the 2019 CAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on May 3-4. It will be the second time that Elon will hosts the CAA Championships at its home facility. The last time the team hosted the championship meet in 2016, the program successfully defended its league title by posting a conference program-record 193 points at the meet – the most points at the CAA Championships since 2005.

On Deck
The Phoenix returns to the track for its final meet of the regular season at the UVA Grand Prix on Saturday, April 27.