University of Southern Indiana Women’s Track & Field had a handful of top five performances including an NCAA II provisional qualifying mark from junior Jennifer Comastri at the Jim Vargo Invitational April 9-10.
Comastri had the highlight race of the day on Friday as she crossed the line in second place and more importantly obtained a new NCAA II provisional qualifying time of 35 minutes, 21.77 seconds which was well under the standard (36:35.68) for the 10,000 meters. Comastri’s 10,000m time was a brand new, 67-second personal record and her time also currently sits as sixth fastest in the nation. Comastri also vaulted into fifth all-time in the USI outdoor record book for her effort Friday.
Freshman Olivia Clark nabbed fifth place in the 100m with a time of 13.65. Freshman Kaylee Lane broke the one-minute barrier to place fourth in the 400m in 59.94.
The Eagles ran strong in the 800m as freshman Allison Morphew (2:17.62) and sophomore Emma Brown (2:18.36) swiped the top two spots. Freshman teammate Audrey Comastri was not too far behind as she found the line in fourth in a time of 2:18.91.
Morphew also participated Friday in the 1500m where she did not disappoint as she added a runner-up finish in 4:40.92. Morphew’s 1500m time also broke an 18-year-old freshman record previously held by Heather Cooksey (4:42.77) since 2003. Freshman teammate Hadley Fisher turned in a nice performance coming in third with a time of 4:43.25.
Freshman Mckenna Cavanaugh was impressive in the 3000m Steeplechase as she navigated her way to a second-place finish clocking at 11:12.14. Cavanuagh’s Steeplechase time beat out Kaylee McClanahan (11:14.74) back in 2011, for a new freshman record and puts her 10th all-time in the USI record book. Freshman Cameron Rodriguez came in after Cavanaugh to finish fifth with a time of 14:18.86.
In the field, freshman Emma Lasher added a runner-up finish in the high jump as she vaulted for 1.52m (4’11.75â€).
Up Next: The Eagles have a trio of meets on the schedule set to go off in a couple of weeks, the Hillsdale ‘Gina’ Relays in Hillsdale, Michigan April 22-23, the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa April 22-24 and the Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood Open back in Louisville, Kentucky April 23.
