The Eastern Michigan University women’s track and field team competed in the 2014 Raleigh Relays hosted by North Carolina State University on Mar 28-29.
The EMU women were coming off a third-place finish in the 2014 Mid-American Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships and notched numerous personal-best marks over the weekend.
Senior Kayla Pfund achieved a personal record in the 5000m run, finishing in the top-25, with a time of 18:02.77. Pfund shaved over 30 seconds of her time and paced teammate junior Taylor Knoll, who had a mark of 18:13.38 in the event.
Three Eagles competed in the 100m hurdles, led by senior newcomer Pauline Chiariglione who took 42nd in 14.75 seconds and was the sole Eagle to break the 15-second barrier.
In the final sprint of the first day of competition, sophomore Aaliyah McKinney crossed the line of the 100m dash in a time of 12.25 seconds. Following McKinney’s performance, the team competed in distance events for the remainder of the track slate.
In the 3000m steeplechase, freshman Anna Quilez-Ribera finished her first collegiate steeplechase in 11:33.72.
Veteran competitors Marina Manion-Rivadulla and Victoria Voronko ran against top competition in the 1500m and 5000m, respectively. Manion-Rivadulla had a personal-best time of 4:39.05, slashing nearly eight seconds off her mark from a year ago.
Voronko placed 16th in the Section A 5000m run with a time of 16:26.82, not far off her time that broke the EMU record last season.
In a late night event, freshman Anna Aldrich took 28th in the 10,000m run coming in at 36:53.71. Aldrich also earned the honor of joining the all-time performance list. Her mark in this race edged out Kari Larsen for the 10th spot and is the fastest 10,000m time by an Eagle since 2006.
Three events took place on the field, with senior Kate Wolanin taking a second-place finish in the invitational high jump.
Wolanin set a personal best in the event, clearing 1.75 meters (5 feet, 8.75 inches). This is also the third-best mark in EMU program history. In the collegiate high jump, freshman Natalie Uy jumped 1.60 meters (5 feet, 3.00 inches). Chiariglione leapt for a distance of 5.31 meters (17 feet, 5.25 inches) in the long jump and earned a 25th place finish.
On the second day of competition, junior Lydia Gomez-Diaz had a third-place finish in the hammer throw with a distance of 54.04 meters (177 feet, 3.00 inches).
Also notching a top finish on the field was sophomore Ellie Braidic, who cleared a height of 3.50 meters (11 feet, 5.75 inches) in the pole vault, to tie for 10th in the invitational section of the event. Finishing the events on the field, sophomore Makeda DeBardelaben leapt 11.10 meters/36 feet 5.00 inches in the triple jump.
On the track, the Eagles saw a pair of athletes place in the top-15 in their respective fields. McKinney took 15th in the 200m dash with a 24.85 second mark, while Chiariglione finished 11th in the 400m hurdles in 1:01:81.
The Eagles women’s harriers will compete next in East Lansing at the Spartan Invitational. The annual meet takes place April 4-5 at Michigan State University.
