By: Erin Madden
WESTERVILLE, Ohio - The 16th-nationally ranked Baldwin Wallace University women's outdoor track and field team finished fifth at the Ohio Athletic Conference Elite Outdoor Meet, hosted by Otterbein University inside Memorial Stadium.
BW finished fifth out of 10 teams with 85 total points. The University of Mount Union won the meet with 171 points.
Freshman distance runner Hope Murphy (Mogadore) recorded the lone event win on the track for the Yellow Jackets, capturing the 800-meter run in 2:18.68. The freshman also placed third in the 1,500-meter run in a time of 4:50.80.
Additional top-three finishes came from junior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC distance runner Alyssa Laughner (Howard, Pa./Central Mountain), senior All-OAC distance runner Hastings Marek (Pataskala/Watkins Memorial) and sophomore distance runner Claire Hollon (North Canton/Hoover). Laughner and Marek were neck-in-neck in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to second and third place, respectively, in times of 11:32.74 and 11:33.92, respectively. Meanwhile, Hollon was the runner-up in the 5,000-meter run in a career-best 18:27.87, shaving almost 40 full seconds off her previous career best.
Senior All-OAC distance runner Molina Otte (Omaha, Neb./Millard West) and junior All-OAC distance runner Natalie Vinci (Canton/St. Thomas Aquinas) combined to add five more points to BW's team total. Otte placed seventh in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a career-best 11:59.03 while Vinci finished seventh in the 400-meter dash and eighth in the 200-meter dash in 1:02.24 and a career-best 27.14 seconds, respectively.
The 4x100-meter relay team of sophomore distance runner Jenna Kaiser (Cuyahoga Falls/Woodridge), senior All-OAC sprinter Ky'leana Allen (Columbus/Bishop Hartley), Vinci and sophomore jumper Jenna Sirianni (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell) finished fourth in a BW season-best 52.81 seconds. Vinci, Laughner, Marek and Murphy combined for a fifth-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay in a BW season-best time of 4:11.19.
In the field, senior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC thrower Brooke Buckhannon (Collins/Western Reserve) made it five consecutive meets with at least one event win as she claimed the shot put with a season-best mark of 41 feet, 4.5 inches. Buckhannon also notched a pair of third-place finishes in both the discus throw and the hammer throw with marks of 127'10" and 162'11", respectively. Sophomore thrower Abby Rodriguez (Grandview, Wash./Prosser) had a third-place finish of her own in the shot put when she tossed a career-best 39'2.5".
Sirianni placed sixth in the triple jump and recorded three points when she leapt a career-best 33'11.25". Freshman thrower Maddie Liberati (Lisbon/David Anderson) recorded her own career-best in the hammer throw, finishing eighth with a mark of 131'11". Sophomore sprinter/jumper Maddie Boltz (Medina/Cloverleaf) finished off the scoring by placing eighth in the javelin throw, tossing 82'11".
BW will make a return trip to Tiffin on Saturday, April 24, to compete in the Monica Scott Invitational, hosted by Heidelberg University inside Hoernemann Stadium.
