FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Vanderbilt women’s track and field team closed out Day 2 of the SEC Indoor Championships with five Commodores standing on the podium and a broken 25-year-old school record.
The Commodores finished the meet ninth overall and scored 32 points, which is nearly triple the number of points they were projected to score. “It’s really hard to describe how it feels to see all the hard work, all the conversations, uncomfortable moments, comfortable moments, and to see the athletes grow within themselves” said Althea Thomas, director of track and field. “It’s hard to put into words how it feels to see them actually put it all together. The way they competed today and yesterday, it’s a new character. It’s just awesome.”
After posting a personal best performance during yesterday’s 800-meter preliminaries, graduate student Taiya Shelby returned to the track today to compete in the finals. She finished the race in 2:04.43 and won a bronze medal.
Senior Veronica Fraley also brought home hardware, winning a bronze medal in the shot put with her career-best throw of 17.25 meters. She improved her personal best four times over the course of six throws in the event. This throw was 0.69 meters farther than her previous personal best.
In the 3,000 meters, senior Niki Narayani scored for the Dores, finishing eighth overall with her time of 9:25.36. “[She] culminates everything [we’ve talked about] through running this season,” Thomas said. “Coming in and scoring in two events when she wasn’t supposed to…it really feels good.”
To finish off the night, the 4×400-meter relay team of freshman Allyria McBride, senior Kaira Brown and graduate students Brooke Overholt and Shelby shattered the 25-year-old school record by more than three seconds with their time of 3:33.23. They shaved off more than three seconds from their last time on the track (3:36.99). “To put a freshman out there to lead off in the 4×400 with three seniors and then to give an amazing performance…it feels so great,” Thomas said. The relay team won a bronze medal with their performance.
On Day 1 of the SEC Indoor Championships, graduate Beatrice Juskeviciute set a new school record in the pentathlon (4,271 points) and won a silver medal. This was a career-best score for Juskeviciute. Senior Jada Sims also gave a personal best performance in the pentathlon, scoring 3,840 points (fourth-best in program history). Her efforts in the pentathlon earned eighth place and scored points for Vanderbilt. Narayani also posted a scoring performance with her fifth-place finish in the 5,000 meters. She finished the race in 16:17.82, which is second-fastest in school history. Overholt, Shelby, Brown, junior Joslin Blair and freshman Santana Spearman had season- and career-best performances at yesterday’s event.
“We talk about it all the time, getting on the track and executing and letting the results happen. I have a wonderful coaching staff, Coach Kovacs, Coach Byron and Coach Porter,” Thomas said. “As coaches we know how our training is going to develop for the peak of the season, the time when you go to championships, so for the athletes to buy in and to execute the process even if their bodies didn’t feel it, even if they didn’t understand it, for them to continue to buy in and do it on the biggest stage at the best conference in the NCAA, it’s amazing.”
Next, the Vanderbilt track and field team will travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, held March 10-11. Juskeviciute will represent the Commodores in the pentathlon. She is ranked sixth in the event.
Fans can follow Vanderbilt women’s track and field on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @VandyXCTrack.
