• Senior Christine Rickert topped 50 meters for the second-straight week while winning the javelin throw (50.93m, 167-01)
• Junior Cozette Collin won the 800m run with a collegiate best time of 2:13.63
• Senior Alyssa Palenchar won the ECU pole vault title with a mark of 3.78m (12-4.75)
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Seniors Christine Rickert and Alyssa Palenchar, and junior Cozette Collin picked up event victories to lead the women’s track & field team at the Bill Carson Invitational Friday and Saturday at East Carolina University.
Rickert topped 50 meters in the javelin throw for the second straight week and won the event with a mark of 50.93m (167-01) to pick up 10 points for the Panthers.
In addition, Collin ran an efficient 800-meter race, defeating second-place finisher Anyslee Van Graan of Coastal Carolina by close to three seconds. Her time of 2:13.63 set a new collegiate best and picked up another 10 points for the Purple & White Saturday.
Palenchar won her first pole vault title of the 2016 outdoor campaign with a mark of 3.78m (12-4.75), less than two feet off of her personal best. HPU outdoor record holder Jill Marois finished third (3.58m, 11-9) in the vault to also grab six points for HPU.
The victories from Rickert, Collin and Palenchar propelled HPU to a fifth place finish at the event with 73 total points. Host East Carolina won the meet (207.33), followed by NC State (111).
“Our girls put together a good meet this weekend,” head coach Mike Esposito said. “Cozette is progressing well and really provided the highlight of the day for us in the 800-meter. She continues to trend in a positive direction. We’re happy with the three event victories and will look to continue the momentum at our home meet Friday.”
Also on the distance circuit, junior Natalia Ocasio ran a superb 3000-meter race and placed second in the event with a collegiate best time of 10:00.55. Senior Julia Zautcke was eighth in a time of 10:34.24.
In addition to those Saturday highlights, senior Jamie Schnuck just missed her PR and school record in the hammer throw Friday while placing fifth and grabbing four points for HPU. Her mark of 53.26m (174-9) came on her first throw after qualifying for the finals. Sophomore Makenzi Holmes-DiGiovine was 12th in the event with a mark of 44.67m (146-7).
Holmes-DiGiovine earned three points for the Panthers with a sixth-place finish in the discus throw. She registered a mark of 47.22m (154-11) on her second throw of finals action to jump up to the sixth-place spot in the competitive field in which a pair of student-athletes topped 50 meters.
On the jumps circuit, senior Amanda Gregory continued her strong senior campaign while registering a collegiate best mark in the long jump. Gregory posted a mark of 5.64m (18-6) to finish fifth in the event and grab four points for HPU.
It also was great to see senior Erica Herrmann return from a lengthy injury to post a high jump mark of 1.45m (4-9) for the Panthers in her first action in close to a year.
In other distance action, senior Lindsey Siska earned an eighth-place finish in the 1500m run and fellow senior Erika Peoples was 12th (5:10.64).
Sophomore CeAnna Soper placed fifth in the 100m hurdles (1:06.98) for the Panthers and freshman Emmy Geis was sixth in 1:08.69.
HPU’s 4x400m relay team wrapped up the day and placed third (4:04.76) with a quartet that included senior Sara Katherine Kirkpatrick, Geis and freshmen Jasymn Gillespie and Keaton Case.
The Panthers return to Vert Stadium to host the Big South Triangular this Friday (April 15). Events begin at 2 p.m.