Eastern Michigan University women’s track and field team traveled to South Bend, Ind., on Feb. 7-8 to take part in the University of Notre Dame’s annual Meyo Invitational.
The Green and White got off to a strong start in the Invitational, as freshman Natalie Uy took a personal-best of 3.85 meters/12-feet 7.50inches in the pole vault, earning her a runner-up spot in the event.
The mark qualified Uy to compete in the 2014 MAC Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship.
Also recording a personal-best was senior Pauline Chiariglione who leapt for 5.60 meters/18 feet 4.50 inches to finish 19th in the long jump.
The lone Eagle to make it through the preliminary round of the 60-meter dash was sophomore Aaliyah McKinney.
Her time of 7.66 was in the top portion of the field, but McKinney just missed the cut in the semifinal round, clocking in at 7.73.
Competing in the preliminary rounds of the 60m hurdles for the Green and White were Chiariglione and senior Sarah Chauchard. Chauchard narrowly missed out on the semifinal round with a mark of 8.87 and Chiariglione also ran a sub-nine second time for the second consecutive meet.
Over the course of the evening, the Eagles took place in four more events. Senior Kate Wolanin cleared 1.69 meters/5-feet 4.50 inches to take the fourth spot in the high jump. Also on the field, junior Adrienne Waisner threw for 14.69 meters/48-feet 2.50 inches in the weight throw.
On the track, senior Kayla Pfund was the top finisher for the Green and White in the 5000m, crossing the line at 17:41.63.
Wrapping up the first day’s events was the distance medley relay team of juniors Taylor Knoll and Marina Manion-Rivadulla and sophomores Iesha Hardiman and Rebecca Quaintance. The team had an eighth place finish with a time of 12:15.57.
On Feb. 8, the Eagles completed their final seven events of the Meyo Invitational. They performed well, as four members of the Green and White set personal-bests in their respective events.
Most notably, junior Victoria Voronko set a record in the mile run, breaking the previous record, which had stood for 25 years by Donna Donakowski. Voronko’s time of 4:39.84 beat out Donakowski’s mark of 4:41.44 by nearly two seconds, while shaving nearly six seconds off her previous personal-best set just one week ago at the EMU Quadrangular, Feb. 1.
Earning a third place finish, McKinney ran the 200m dash in 24.76. Her mark also qualified her for the 2014 MAC Indoor Track and Field Championships.
The Eagles will split up next weekend as one group will stay in-state for the Grand Valley State University “Big Meet”. The other group will head to Geneva, OH for the SPIRE Invitational. Both meets will be held Feb. 14-15.
