North Central Results
St. Francis Fighting Chance Results
Naperville, Ill. – The Washington University in St. Louis track and field teams had a spectacular weekend at the St. Francis Fighting Chance meet and the Carius/Gregory Invite at North Central.
The Bears set two new school records (women’s 4×100 relay & men’s 800m) and also currently hold the top national mark in two events (women’s 4×100 relay & women’s 4×400 relay).
In addition, WashU set four new top-20 national marks on the men’s side and achieved eight new top-20 national marks on the women’s side.
With several quality performances and new PR’s smashed throughout the weekend, WashU claimed 17 all-time top-10 performances in total.
Top Women’s Performances
An incredible performance highlighted Thursday night at North Central as the women’s 4×100 of Mycah Clay, Natalie Swinehart, Lauren Hamilton, and Lauren Gay finished with a time of 46.07, setting a new school record for a first-place finish. Even more so impressively, their time sits at No. 1 nationally and is the sixth quickest time ever in DIII history.
On Saturday, they raced to another first-place finish, clocking in at 47.46 at St. Francis.
Just like the 4×100 relay squad, the women’s 4×400 relay team (Katherine Dudley, Alicia Gupte, Ava Forman, Emma Kelley) smashed a new PR of 3:44.61 for a first-place finish as they currently hold the top mark in the nation for the event and the fourth best mark in Bears’ history.
In the Pole Vault competition, first-year Yasmin Ruff improved her season best mark at North Central with a 3.85m mark which ranks fourth-best in school history. Nationally, Ruff moves up the performers list into sixth place.
Gay also had another impressive individual effort with a first-place finish in the 100m at St. Francis, posting a time of 11.86. Gay now has the second-best time in school history and ranks third nationally. The Bears currently have two runners in the 100m with times this outdoor season of under 12 seconds (Mycah Clay 11.97).
The New Rochelle, N.Y. native recorded a third-place mark in the 200m (24.87), while Lauren Hamilton set a new all-time top-10 performance with a time of 25.29, which is good for the ninth overall best time in WashU history.
WashU had several other strong efforts including multiple season-best times in the 800m where Emma Kelley claimed first (2:08.06), followed by a runner-up finish from Aoife Dunne (2:11.65), and a fourth-place finish from Ally Sarussi (2:12.80).
Nationally, Kelley lists third in the 800, while Dunne improved her time to 15th best in DIII. Additionally, Kelley now has the second-best mark in school history for the event, while Dunne moves up to 8th on the all-time performance list.
In the long distance races, the Bears performed well, as Emily Konkus ran a new PR and collected the fourth-best time in program history (4:29.28) moving up four spots and now ranks 10th in the nation, while Lindsay Ott posted a time of 4:37.00 to claim the 10th best time in WashU history.
In the 10.000m run, Zarya deSouza finished in second (37:02.57) and Ava Forman placed third in the 400 Hurdles. Forman set a new PR mark of 1:02.11 and remains fifth all-time on the Bears’ performance list and cracks the top-10 nationally, currently sitting at ninth overall.
Carmen Rottinghaus jumped into the WashU all-time top-10 performers list with an 11:05.59 finish in the 3k Steeplechase, as she ranks ninth overall.
Dudley and Kathryn Leighty both set new PR’s in the 400m and placed in the top 10 at St. Francis. Dudley placed third (56.75) and lists at fifth on the all-time performance list, while Leighty set a new PR with a time of 58.56.
Alicia Gupte earned a runner-up finish in the Triple Jump with a 12.01m mark on Saturday. Gupte’s best mark on the season of 12.07m ranks seventh in DIII.
Top Men’s Performances
Will Houser achieved a new school record with a big-time effort in the 800m with a first-place finish. Houser took down Deko Ricketts’ 800m record with a time of 1:49.39, which ranks sixth-best in the nation.
The men’s 4×400 relay squad (Arthur Santoro, Jack Henry Whetstone, Houser, John Harry Wagner) got after it and set a new all-time top-10 performance with a solid mark of 3:14.53 for a runner-up finish. The group ranks 14thnationally and sixth all-time in school history.
Jacob Ridderhoff had another quality showing with a first-place finish in the 1500m (3:46.72), ranking eighth-best nationally and is the third-best time on the Bears’ all-time performance list.
John Harry Wagner logged a third-place finish with a time of 49.11 in the 400m, while Thomas Penney notched a new all-time top-10 performance of 3:50.64, which ranks sixth all-time in program history.
Abayomi Awoyomi finished in fourth place in the Triple Jump at St. Francis (14.08m), earning his way to the fourth-best mark in school history.
On Thursday at North Central, Michael Snyder claimed a first-place mark in the High Jump, totaling a 2.01m mark, matching his personal best back at the outdoor UAA Championship. Snyder was also runner-up on Saturday at St. Francis, posting an identical 2.01m mark.
Gio Alfred placed second in 110 Hurdles with a strong performance (14.28), which is tied for second best in school history and ranks sixth nationally.
