YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Kaitlyn Clark and Ashley West recorded NCAA provisional qualifying marks in the pole vault and high jump to lead the Slippery Rock University women’s indoor track and field team at the Youngstown State College Invite on Friday.
Clark cleared 3.65 meters to improve on her previous NCAA provisional distance by 0.10 meters. The mark, which ranks first in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, was also good enough to net her a second-place finish behind West Virginia’s Katlyn Shelar (3.90 meters). Courtney McQuaide, who already has a provisional clearance to her credit this season, placed fourth at 3.50 meters in the event as well.
West produced a jump of 1.67 meters to come in second place in what was her second provisional qualifying leap in as many weeks. She also met the PSAC standard in the triple jump at 10.57 meters. West was joined in the high jump by Paige Kassab, who came in third with a mark of 1.62 meters. Kassab also improved on her previous PSAC qualifying position in the triple jump after posting a distance of 10.66 meters that resulted in a 10th place finish.
Rounding out The Rock’s top field performers was Brittany Christiansen, Caitlin Whalen and Breanna Northcott. Christiansen finished fifth in the weight throw (15.75 meters) and sixth in the shot put (12.07 meters). Northcott improved on her previous PSAC mark in the weight throw after registering a toss of 15.63 meters to place sixth while Whalen finished seventh in the shot put at 11.96 meters.
Pacing Slippery Rock’s runners was the 4×400-meter relay team of Jasmine Bailey, Lauren Harvey, Lexie Nowakowski and Cassandra Swartzbaugh. The group blazed to third-place finish in 4:01.71. The time is the fastest ran by a PSAC relay team so far in 2015. The only teams to beat the quartet Friday were NCAA Division I schools Pittsburgh (3:58.25) and Duquesne (3:59.48).
Individually, Bailey ran the 200-meter dash in 25.56 seconds and the 60-meter dash in 7.94 seconds. The times were good enough to place fifth and 10th, respectively, with her 200-meter time being the fastest turned in by a PSAC athlete this year.
Harvey and Nowakowski both took part in the 400-meter dash. Harvey came in eighth after clocking a time of 59.79 meters while Nowakowski completed the race in 1:00.22 to finish in 12th place.
Jenny Picot qualified for the PSAC Championships in the 5,000-meter run thanks to a fourth-place finishing time of 18:17.12. Like Bailey, Picot’s time is currently the quickest in the PSAC.
The Rock’s other top runner at YSU was Janine Powis, who completed the mile 5:09.85 to qualify for conference meet and place 11th.
Slippery Rock returns to action on Jan. 30-31 at the DII Challenge in Geneva, Ohio.
From: http://www.rockathletics.com/news/2015/1/24/WIT_0124151620.aspx?path=witrack
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