ELON, N.C. – After a highly successful indoor track season, members of the Elon University women’s track and field team will head to Boston this weekend, March 4-6, as the Phoenix competes at the 2016 Eastern College Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Boston University Track and Field Pavilion.
Follow the Phoenix
Updates and results from the meet will be posted on Twitter at the handle @elonscores or the program’s handle, @EU_XCTF. Live results will also be available at lancertiming.com.
ECAC Preliminaries
• This is the Phoenix’s second trip to the ECAC Indoor Championships. Elon, who competes in the ECAC in indoor track and field due to the Colonial Athletic Association not sponsoring the sport, finished 21st last year in its first year at the meet.
• Elon will take 10 individual athletes to the ECACs and its 4×400-meter relay team. Among the athletes scheduled to compete this weekend are Carrie Abraham (long and triple jump), Elyse Bierut (3,000-meters), Brigid Brennan (one-mile run), Shelby Cuddeback (5,000-meters), Emily Dixon (pentathlon), Jen Esposito (400-meters), Sydney Griffin (60-meter hurdles and 200-meters), Bryanna Hames (shot put), Megan Kirschling (high jump) and Tereza Novotna (3,000-meters). The Phoenix’s 4×400-meter relay team of Esposito, Desiree Ross, Lauren Brzozowski and Lydia Laws also will race at the meet.
• Griffin will look to put a great stamp on her terrific senior indoor campaign. The Marietta, Ga., native broke four indoor school records during the season in the 60-meter hurdles (8.48), the 60-meter dash (7.75), the 200-meters (24.57) and the 300-meters (40.33). She currently has the fifth-best performance among ECAC qualifiers in the 60-meter hurdles.
• Esposito has also etched her name at the top of the program’s record book in a couple of events. The Mansfield, Mass., native set the new standard in the 400-meters (55.03) during the season and also clocked a 1:15.63 in the 500-meters.
• The 400-meters was one of four events that Esposito qualified for the ECACs. She also qualified in the 500 and 800-meter races along with being a member of the Phoenix’s 4×400-meter relay.
• Since making a lineup adjustment midseason, the Phoenix’s 4×400-meter relay team has been on a tear as the quartet of Ross, Brzozowski, Laws and Esposito has lower its time over the last three meets. The squad set a new school-record in the event at the Penn State Tune-Up on Feb. 20 with a time of 3:46.52.
• Tereza Novotna clocked a new school-record in the 5,000-meters at the Spire NCAA Division I Challenge. The Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, native ran a 16:40 in the race, breaking the previous program record by over 13 seconds.
• Abraham set a new personal-best mark in the triple jump this season as the Winchester, Mass., native had a leap of 39’ 3.25” (11.97m) at the UNCG Spartan Team Challenge. That performance is the second-best indoor mark in school history.
• A couple members of the distance squad, Brigid Brennan and Shelby Cuddeback, earned trips to the ECACs after setting personal-records in their respective events. Cuddeback ran a 17:05.73 in 5,000-meters at the Spire NCAA Division I Challenge while Brennan clocked a 4:56.88 in the one-mile at the Penn State Tune-Up.
• A total of nine school-records have been broken during the 2016 indoor campaign for the Phoenix.
On Deck
The Phoenix begins defense of its CAA title as Elon opens the outdoor season at the Shamrock Invitational on March 18-19 at Myrtle Beach, S.C.