By Katherine Harris
Writer
Though the women’s track team fell just short of Duquesne University for first place overall, the team performed strongly on its home turf last Saturday in the Gulden Invitational. The Orange and Blue ended the day with 29 top-five finishes.
Two highlights of the day were first-place finishes by the Bison in both the 4 x 800 relay and the 400 meters. Jennifer Zymet ’14 earned her first gold medal of the year with the 400 meter victory.
“I’m happy with my individual performance for the most part, but there is definitely room for improvement,” Zymet said. “It’s a difficult task to double, triple or even quadruple in events with strong performance in each, but by the time leagues come around our bodies will be trained and strong enough to be able to compete in several events successfully.”
In the mile, Beth Braunegg ’14 broke five minutes for the first time in her career and moved up to sixth all-time in program history. Emma Rice ’15 entered her first top-10 list with a time of 8.04 in the 60 meter, tying for ninth all-time. In the pole vault, Autumn Schellenberger ’14 beat her personal best 10-10 and tied for eighth all-time.
Sarah Bella ’12, who placed third on the all-time list last year, clinched second place with her first throw of the year over 45 feet. Rebecca Misko ’12 grabbed fourth in the event and kept her place of sixth in program history.
“I was happy with my performance, although I do believe I have a lot more to prove before the winter season is over,” Bella said. “I was really impressed with the effort and determination that the team showed yesterday and I believe that with more confidence and training the team will be hard to beat in the upcoming Patriot League Championships.”
The Orange and Blue will continue to prepare for the Patriot League Championships this weekend with the Bison Open & Multi and the Penn State National Invitational.
“It was a pretty good meet for us. However, I feel as though we need to work on our confidence level and get a little tougher to fight for every single place and point. We left some points on the board that we should have got and allowed a very good Duquesne team to beat us here at home,” head coach Kevin Donner said. “It was a great experience to help us work on our weaknesses as we prepare for the Patriot League Championships next month.”