April 5, 2018
Meet Info // Results
A limited contingent of women’s track and field athletes will represent the Commodores at the Spec Towns Invitational Friday and Saturday at the University Georgia.
Sixteen members of the Vanderbilt squad, including three pole vaulters and 10 middle distance runners, are scheduled to compete in the meet that honors former Georgia head coach and Olympic hurdles champion Forrest “Spec” Town.
The Commodores will compete against athletes from 11 other universities, including Ole Miss, Kentucky, South Carolina, Michigan, Indiana, Nebraska and host Georgia. Competition starts Friday at 11 a.m. CT, and Saturday at 10 a.m.
Head coach Steve Keith wants to see continued improvement from his squad, and hopes to leave Athens with more NCAA qualifying standards secured by individual Commodores.
“We’re keeping a portion of our squad in Nashville, including some distance runners, but we’re very targeted in specific events,” Keith said. “I expect all of our athletes to compete at a high level, especially coming off some strong training sessions.”
The team’s top vaulters – sophomores Kristen Denk, Caleigh Lofstead and Margaret Ollinger – will look to produce outdoor bests at the meet.
Denk, a sixth-place finisher at the SEC Indoor Championships in February, has the unit’s best clearance this season – a leap of 13-3.50 (4.05 meters) at the Black and Gold Invitational on March 24. She owns an outdoor career-best of 13-6.25 as a freshman at the University of Tennessee in 2016.
Lofstead and Ollinger are looking to surpass the 13-foot barrier for the first time this season. Lofstead’s outdoor career-best of 13-2.25 is seven inches higher than Ollinger’s outdoor best.
The Commodores will feature a deep contingent of runners led by sophomores Reagan Bustamante and Sara Tsai in the 1,500-meter run on Friday.
Bustamante enters off an excellent 800-meter effort at the Florida Relays where she set a personal-best of 2:06.50, the fourth-fastest time ever by a Commodore. Her collegiate-best in the 1,500 was a 4:27.07 effort at the Tennessee Relays last April. Tsai is returning to excellent form this spring and ran 4:30.19 last week in Gainesville.
Other Commodores joining Bustamante and Tsai in the 1,500 are Reagan Anderson, Ginger Hutton, Maddie Criscione, Kendall Derry, Devon Grisbaum, Megan Huebner, Anna Grace Morgan and Mailin Struck.
Two of Vanderbilt’s top sprinters, senior Jenn Edobi and freshman Regan Clay, are running the 200 meters. Edobi is scheduled to compete in the sprint on Friday, with Clay participating on Saturday.
Freshman Sophia Falco is entered in the 100-meter dash, long jump and triple jump.
Commodores at the Spec Towns Invitational
Friday, April 6
Pole vault – Kristen Denk, Caleigh Lofstead, Margaret Ollinger
Long jump – Sophia Falco
200 meters (invitation only) – Jenn Edobi
1,500 meters – Reagan Anderson, Reagan Bustamante, Maddie Criscione, Kendall Derry, Devon Grisbaum, Ginger Hutton, Megan Huebner, Anna Grace Morgan, Mailin Struck, Sara Tsai
Saturday, April 7
Triple jump – S. Falco
100-meter dash – S. Falco
200-meter dash – Regan Clay