NEW LONDON, Conn. - The no. 15 Coast Guard Academy women's track & field team notched seven first-place finishes at Friday evening's Bear Invitational. The Bears would win the meet with a team score of 122, beating out runners-up Westfield State's mark of 94.5 points.
The sprinting squad won all three of their solo events. Junior
Alaina Stonebraker (Salt Lake City, Utah) won the 55-meters with a new personal best of 7.39; senior captain
Grace Flynn (Severna Park, Md.) won the 200 with her 26.53; and sophomore
Ella Besant (Morehead, Ky.) won the 400-meters in 1:03.71.
Stonebreaker and Besant were also joined by seniors
Alexandra Herron (St. Leonard, Md.) and
Riley Thorburn (Chelsea, Mich.) to win the 4x400 relay with a time of 4:15.66.
In the distance events, sophomores
Annabel Molner (Bremen, Germany) and
Lucy Smith (North Stonington, Conn.) both ran personal bests in the 5000-meters to finish first and second, clocking a respective 19:07.64 and 20:11.96. In the mile, freshman
Brooke Hunter (Phillipsburg, N.J.) finished second in 5:22.94, followed closely by junior
Lauren Mellon (Falls Church, Va.) in third at 5:23.09.
The women's 4x800 crew of junior
Claire Semerod (Centennial, Colo.), seniors
Paige Phillips (Wilmington, N.C.) and
Sophia White (Gurley, Ala.), and sophomore
Makenna Topp (Anthem, Ariz.) also cruised to a win with a time of 9:33.09, establishing a new facility record.
In the jumping events, junior
Allie Wildsmith (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) continued her dominant indoor high jump season, clearing 1.76 meters (5' 9.25") to take the event. Senior captain
Madelyn Greene (Chesapeake Beach, Md.) was second in the triple jump after covering 10.63 meters (34' 10.5"), while junior
Kaylee Wright (Plainwell, Mich.) was fourth in the long jump with a 4.94-meter effort (16' 2.5").
Finally, seniors
Maureen Hammond (Downington, Pa.) and
Jacey Tippman (Venice, Fla.) were the top Coast Guard finishers in the throwing events. Hammond finished fifth in the shot put with a top mark of 10.92 meters (35' 10"), while Tippman was fifth in the weight throw at 12.68 meters (41' 7.25").
Women's track & field is back in action next weekend on Saturday, February 15th, splitting time between Boston University's David Hemery Invitational and Tufts' indoor meet.
