NAPERVILLE- At the Chicagoland Championships held at North Central College, Friday was all about the ladies. The indoor area championships are broken up into two separate days, with the women's teams competing on Friday, followed by the men on Saturday. The University of St. Francis women's track program put up excellent performances, new school records, and enough points to finish seventh overall against a very talented field of competitors.
During the mile run, the Saints saw their highest finish of the night around the oval. Sophomore Erin Suttman battled for position in the mile and dove at the line to garner runner-up honors. Suttman's 2nd place finish, in a time of 5:15.24, shattered the previous school record and sets her alone atop the performance list at USF.
In another record setting performance, Julia Borel-Donohue broke the six day old school record in the 3,000m run, but only by the smallest of margins. Finishing with a time of 10:53.29, Borel-Donohue's ninth place finishing time was just a half a second ahead of the previous school record set last weekend by freshman Lisa Ringstmeyer.
With an all new set of players, the ladies' Distance Medley Relay equaled the previous mark set this season. The team, composed of Hilary Halford, Jamie Topp, Rachel Morman, and Lisa Ringstmeyer, finished with a time of 12:43.68 and finished fifth overall in the competition. The relay was an exciting progression, especially for Jamie Topp and Rachel Morman who both ran huge personal best performances on their legs of the 400m and 800m, respectively.
In the field events, Chelsea Rimington once again proved she is a force to be reckoned with in the Chicagoland area. With a throw of 12.70m, Rimington was able to clench runner-up honors in the shot put; easily the highest finish for the women in field events.
Though not highlighted specifically in this article, there were many personal best performances in every aspect of the meet, leading to a team finish of 7th out of 18 teams in attendance.
The Lady Saints continue to showcase their progress next week at Grand Valley Sate University, on Friday February 17th in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This will be the final indoor meet of the season before qualifiers head to Geneva, Ohio for NAIA Indoor Nationals at the end of the month.
