Day #2 Results (.pdf) I
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FARGO, N.D. - The IUPUI women's track team continue to cap the season on a high note with a second straight strong showing at the 2017 Summit Outdoor Championships on Friday (May 12). The Jaguars added to their point total with strong efforts from
Haley Welch and
Alexis Lewandowski in the steeplechase while sophomore
Megan Zajac earned a spot in Saturday's finals of the 800m race.
As a team, IUPUI sits sixth of eight teams with a modest eight points. Host North Dakota State has cruised to the lead with 170 points and leads second-place South Dakota by 53 points.
Zajac wheeled her way into Saturday's finals with a fourth-place finish in her heat at 2:13.39. Sophomore
Amairany Cruz just missed making the finals, closing the race at 2:14.27 and senior
Valeria Guzman ran a time of 2:18.62.
In the 3,000m steeple, Welch ran a personal record time of 11:35.16, taking 12 seconds off her earlier best. Lewandowski was just behind her at 11:39.28, taking a second off her previous best effort. The duo finished seventh and eighth respectively, giving the Jaguars three points in the event.
"Though we had higher place goals for ourselves, you can never go wrong with scoring at conference," Welch said. "We're still pretty new to the event, so we're being patient with ourselves. Overall, I'm proud of Alexis and I for sticking together, being aggressive and putting up points for the team."
"As Haley said, we're both really new to this event," Lewandowski said. "I took a pretty hard fall over the first water barrier which took a toll on my confidence, but I kept fighting to place for the team. While the times and places didn't quite line up with our goals going in, we're just going to keep getting better from here. Having my teammates spread out around the track cheering me on despite my fall was really encouraging and helped keep me in it."
Earlier in the day,
Maggie Shields led the Jaguars' two entries in the 400 at 1:01.50 while
Rachel Saylor ran a time of 1:02.13, both setting new personal bests in the process. Shields shaved more than .2 seconds off her previous best while Saylor trimmed more than two seconds off her best time.
A slew of Jaguars will be in action on Saturday to cap the three-day event. A full recap and results will be posted to IUPUIJags.com immediately afterwards.
