YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Kyra Arendt of the Milwaukee women's track and field team headlined action on day one of the 2020 Horizon League Indoor Championships on Saturday, Feb. 29, after winning the long jump title with a mark of 5.84m (19-2).
Arendt not only jumped to a personal record mark, but also moved her name up to tie for ninth on the Panther All-Time Top-10 list.
"This is an amazing first day of the championship for us," Head Coach
Andrew Basler said, "We had a lot of positive things happen and a lot of PRs."
"I told the team last night that we've been on this journey together writing kind of what is our story for this year and there were two chapters left of that story today and tomorrow," Basler added, "I think they set themselves up really well to have a great finish to this indoor story."
Also competing in long jump was
Anya Athan (5.43m) who picked up a personal best mark while Jakara Edwards-house (5.11m) finished 14th and
Devin Wagner (5.09m) placed 15th.
Kate Watson then had a big performance in pole vault to finish runner-up with a personal best height of 3.70m (12-1 1/2). Her new height is now tied for fifth in program history.
In the finals of the 5000m,
Mikayla Fox grabbed the bronze after breaking the 17-minute mark for a personal record time of 16:59.36. Her time is the fourth-fastest in program history.
In the pentathlon,
Leah Lenling led to a fourth-place finish with a personal record of 3,146 points while
Jada Schuh finished sixth with 2,932 points.
Lenling grabbed second in high jump (1.61m), sixth in both the 60m (6.70) and 800m (2:35.38), eighth in shot put (9.35m) and seventh (4.84m) in long jump. Schuh had a top-three finish in the 60m (9.35), fifth in the 800m (2:35.17), seventh in high jump (1.37m), tenth in shot put (8.57m) and sixth (4.96m) in long jump.
From the ring,
Lauren Lietzke finished fourth overall in the weight throw with a mark of 15.67m (51-5) while
Cecilia Petrie took seventh after a toss of 14.80m (48-6 3/4).
The distance medley relay team (DMR) rounded out finals on the day with a third-place finish with a time of 12:18.50.
During prelims, five Panthers advanced to tomorrow's finals.
"We got so many people through to finals that we weren't supposed to get," Basler said, "People are stepping up at the right time and that is what Milwaukee track and field is about."
In the 60m hurdles,
Jasmine Bickerstaff led the way to a time of 7.03 to take seventh and move on to finals tomorrow.
Michelle Meyer also advanced in the 400m after crossing the line in a season-best time of 57.89 to take fifth in prelims.
Mercy Ndon sprinted her way to a time of 7.73 in the 60m dash to also qualify for finals.
Joining them is the Panther pair of
Megan Safranski (2:17.33) and
Riley Hansen (2:15.83) in the 800m. The two finished sixth and seventh respectively to also get another chance to race.
The Panthers sit in third place as a team with 45 points with Youngstown State only ahead by six points.
"We are really taking some major strides forward. I am excited for day two and I think the team is excited for day two and hopefully we can write a good ending to our story."
UP NEXT ON THE BLOCKS
Day Two of the Indoor League Championships resumes tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. CT with the final three events of the heptathlon (60m hurdles, pole vault, and 1000m) followed by field events at 8:15 a.m. and finals of the running events at 12:00 p.m.
TEAM SCORES
Oakland – 69
YSU – 51
Milwaukee – 45
IUPUI – 20
Detroit Mercy – 19.5
NKU – 10
UIC – 8
CSU – 6.5
WSU – 5
