Dec. 3, 2016
Vanderbilt track and field kicked off its indoor season on Saturday by hosting 11 other local schools from Tennessee and Kentucky at the Vanderbilt Indoor Opener.
Courtney Clayton grabbed a first-place finish in the 1-mile run for the Commodores with a time of 4:51.57. Lauren Moffett (5:03.07) and Reagan Bustamante (5:04.71) also finished in the top-four of the 1-mile run behind Clayton, with finishes of third and fourth place, respectively.
Vanderbilt also claimed three of the top four places in pole vault. Caleigh Lofstead led the Commodores with a second place finish and a new personal-best mark of 13′ 5.25” (4.10m). Sarah Bell finished third with a height of 13′ 1.50 and Margaret Ollinger placed tied-for-fourth with a mark of 12′ 3.50. Megan McCabe also recorded a height of 11′ 3.75 for the Commodores, good for eighth place.
Sarah Goodale finished eighth in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.85 and also posted a mark of 37′ 1.25” in the shot put; both figures marked new personal bests for Goodale.
The Commodores finished the day strong in the last event of the day, the 4x400m relays. The team of Becca Schulte, Jenn Edobi, Lydia Witty and Courtney Clayton finished in second place with a time of 3:45.79.
On the men’s side, Nikos Gkotsis’ performance in the 3000m earned him a new school record with a mark of 8:31.18, which was good for sixth place overall. Sam DeFabrizio also ran in the 3000m and recorded a time of 9:03.52.
2016 marked the fourth straight season that the Commodores have began their indoor season with a home meet. It was also the first of five meets that will be held at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility for the 2016-17 season, including the SEC Championships on Feb. 24-25, 2017. Vanderbilt’s next meet will be the Commodore Invitational on Jan. 13-14. There will be 18 teams participating in the Commodore Invitational, including six teams from the SEC.
