ELON, N.C. – A new school-record performance in the 100-meter dash by senior Sydney Griffin as well as a new personal-records and third-place finishes from junior Shelby Cuddeback and freshman Coralea Geraniotis resulted in a strong start for the Elon University women’s track and field team on the opening day of the Colonial Athletic Association Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday, May 6, at the Jerry and Jeanne Robertson Track and Field Complex.
Griffin clocked an 11.85 in the preliminary round of the 100-meter dash, setting a new personal-record and breaking her previous school mark of 11.89 in the process to qualify for the finals on Saturday, May 7. The Marietta, Ga., native also had the fastest prelim time in the 200-meter dash at 24.26 to advance to the finals with teammate Desiree Ross running a preliminary time of 24.92 to also qualify for the final round.
Griffin went on to post a prelim-best time of 13.76 in the 100-meter hurdles and will be joined in the finals tomorrow by teammates Emily Dixon (14.43) and Lydia Laws (14.63). Laws set a new personal-record in the 400-meter hurdles with the top preliminary time of 1:00.52. Jen Esposito was second at 1:01.28 while senior Samantha Brown also set a new personal-record with her time of 1:01.81 and was third.
Elon picked up some huge points with some great performance in the 5,000 and 10,000-meter races. Geraniotis clocked a 16.47.71 in the 5K race and was third overall in the event. Her performance is now the second-fastest time ever in school history. Senior Elyse Bierut also added to the Phoenix’s scoring total with her seventh-place finish and a time of 17:01.32.
In the 10,000-meter run, Cuddeback established her new personal-record with a time of 35:30.92, good for third overall and moving to the second-fastest performance in school history. Sabina Bains broke into the program’s top-five performance list with her new personal-best time of 36:58.73 and was sixth in the race. Fellow senior Kaitlin Snapp also scored in the race with her time of 37:31.39 and was eighth overall.
Dixon had a solid start to the heptathlon, winning each of the first four events on the day. The Bath, England, native began the meet with a 14.47 in the heptathlon 100-meter hurdles and followed with her victory in the high jump with a cleared height of 5’ 5.25” (1.66m). She finished the first day of the multis with wins in the shot put (10.88m) and in the 200-meters (25.34).
Elon had four members qualify for the final round of the 400-meter dash. Esposito was Elon’s top qualifier in the preliminary round with her time of 55.95 while Ross (56.04), Lauren Brzozowski (56.76) and Katie Arbogast (57.12) all finish in the top eight to compete in the final round tomorrow.
Kimberly Johansen qualified in both the 800 and 1,500-meters with prelim-best times of 2:11.78 and 4:32.96, respectively. Brigid Brennan also made the finals in the 1,500-meters with her time of 4:37.46.
Carrie Abraham was fourth in the women’s long jump with her leap of 18’ 8” (5.69m) while Briana O’Grady was sixth in the hammer throw with a heave of 155’ 6” (47.40m). Ellie Bennett was Elon’s top finisher in the pole vault in seventh and her cleared height of 11’ 1.75” (3.40m), which is a new personal-best for the rookie.
After the opening day, Elon sits in fifth in the team standings with 28 points. William and Mary (55), Northeastern (44.50) and Towson (38) sit in the top three at the end of day one. The Phoenix however will look to make up ground with at least one athlete qualifying for the final round of events on Saturday.
The second and final day of the meet is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.