(Ann Arbor, MI) - The women's track and field team traveled to Fort Wayne, Indiana for the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference championship on Thursday, May 2, and Friday, May 3. The women's team finished in sixth place, 51 points behind Madonna and 10 points ahead of Rochester Christian. The team would set five personal records on the day.
A substantial majority of the points came from throwing events, as Lena Korte (Junior; Clinton, MI) won both shot put and javelin. Korte won the shot put with a throw of 13.96 meters while claiming the championship in the javelin with 37.34 meters. Korte also earned points for the team in hammer throw by finishing fifth with a throw of 44.32 meters.
Freshman Christina Smith (Saginaw, MI) finished fourth with a new personal best throw in the javelin with 29.64 meters. Quinn Stefanski (Junior; Munger, MI) also earned a new personal best distance in the hammer throw. Stefanski threw 44.32 meters.
Julia Hirt (Junior; Hartland, WI) earned a fifth-place finish in discus with a throw of 37.48 meters.
The team also picked up points by the 4x800 and 4x400-meter relay teams. The 4x800 relay team of Michaela Kurth (Freshman; Ypsilanti, MI), Rachael Byers (Freshman; Plymouth, MI), Elizabeth Hines (Freshman; Ypsilanti, MI), and Grace Finley (Freshman; Monroe, MI) ran to a hard-earned seventh place finish.
The 4x400-meter relay team picked up one point with an eighth-place finish. The relay team consisted of Kurth, Jayde Ullenbruch (Freshman; Port Huron, MI), Grace Ponto (Freshman; Dearborn, MI), and Olivia Tomlinson (Freshman; Caro, MI).
The team earned three new personal records in mid-distance races as well. Hines and Finley each ran to new personal best efforts in the 1500, finishing in times of 5:35 and 5:34. Freshman Jenna Oberly (Dearborn, MI) ran a new personal best in the 800-meter run by finishing in 3:11.
While the season came to an end for some of the team. A group of athletes will be making the trip to Columbia, South Carolina next week for the NCCAA National Championships hosted by Columbia International University on Wednesday, May 8 through Friday, May 10.
