Women’s Track and Field Team Starts the Outdoor Season

Written and Media by Dylon Niswonger.

Spring is here. Many people celebrate this because of the longer days, brighter sun rays, and temperate weather that comes with the season. For the Greenville Women’s Track and Field Team, it means the highly-anticipated outdoor track season and eight more weeks of grind. It’s the meat, the heart, it’s the last hoorah of the year.

Our ladies look to build on their successful indoor track and field season and deliver their best efforts this outdoor season. March 24 was the kickstart for this year’s track season at the Wash U Mini Meet in St. Louis, Missouri. That weekend presented a strong start to the final season even though the women’s team was low on members and the weather was unfavorable, as it was wet and windy. The wind was even pushing the opposite direction of the finish line, where finishing a race was like swimming upstream.

In the sprints category, Taylor Tucker, a freshman, delivered a notable race in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.28 seconds, putting her in the 7th spot out of 23 other competitors. This was a great start to the spring season for Tucker, especially as a first-year competitor.

Lia Kruse, a senior, competed in both the 800-meter and the 1500-meter races. Kruse placed 10th in the 800 and proceeded to take 4th in 1500 with a time of 5:07. She has continued her recent trend of cranking out competitive mid-distance performances and looks forward to finishing a great senior year.

The throwing events have consistently brought the heat every weekend and were the strongest events for our track and field team on March 24. Savannah Maloney, a freshman, had an exceptional day, taking 3rd in the shot put with a throw of 31′ 3.75″ and delivering a 1st place performance of 110′ 4″ in the discus throw. Maloney has had an outstanding freshman year so far.

Unquestionably the most impressive event of the day for Greenville University was the hammer throw, with three of our athletes finishing in the top eight. Sarah Parks, a sophomore, was the 8th performance with a 109′ 3″ throw. Then, picking up the 4th was an impressive throw of 124′ 5″ by Deb Cunningham, a sophomore.

The championship effort was a 134′ 8″ by Maridith Tate, a senior. Tate is in the midst of her final season of track and field and she felt that “for Wash U being the first meet, it went pretty well despite the weather.” Tate is also currently working toward the record in the hammer throw, but regardless of this, she is simply looking for a great season. These ladies rocked the throwing events and have sparked a great start to the season.

Our ladies had a noteworthy indoor season and look to present similar, if not better, results during the outdoor season.  Make sure to follow these ladies as they return next week to compete again at Washington University. It’s been a good start to the outdoor season and they look to continue to build on their efforts throughout the spring.