NASHVILLE, Tenn. – It was a long wait — 321 days since the last meet — but the Vanderbilt women’s track and field team was more than ready as the 2021 indoor season began with the Commodore Indoor over the weekend.
“I’ve been more than pleasantly surprised with our overall performance in every event this weekend,” Vanderbilt head coach Steve Keith said. “Youth has been well-served and experience has shown itself, too. They spent six weeks away between Thanksgiving and January, but put in the work and rose to the challenge. I think this a one of the best starts we’ve had in the last few years.”
Record Setters
Two Commodores bested the previous school record in the 60 meters. In her first collegiate race, freshman Haley Bishop shattered the 12-year-old record of 7.64 set by Anna Carr-Hawkins. Bishop, who was in contact tracing isolation as recently as Monday, stopped the clock at 7.51 in the preliminaries to set the new school standard, while sophomore Madison Fuller finished in 7.60. In the finals, Bishop finished fourth overall, while Fuller was sixth.
Top 10 Performances
In the first event of the season, sophomore Jada Sims jumped up the school record book. She cleared 1.70 meters (5 feet, 7 inches) to finish second overall. That mark ranks seventh in school history and is the best height for a Commodore since Ashlyn Hare cleared 1.71 meters (5-7.25 ft.) at The Armory in 2016. Sophomore Madison Murray also cleared a personal best with a third-place height of 1.65 meters (5-5 ft.), which ranks as 11th-best in Commodore history.
Freshman Laine Roberts earned a spot in the school record book in the pole vault. She finished eighth overall with a height of 3.65 meters (11-11.75 ft.). That ranks 10th all-time at Vanderbilt.
Vandy Victories
Vanderbilt claimed its first victory of the season on the first night of competition. The Commodores took home the gold in the distance medley relay. Ruby Stauber, Regan Clay, Haley Walker and Lainey Phelps won the event with a time of 11:52.11.
Junior Taiya Shelby bested the field in the 400 meters with a career-best finish of 53.99. She was nearly a full second faster than the rest of the field and became just the third Commodore to break the 54-second barrier in the event. Vanderbilt represented three of the top four in the event with Kaira Brown (3rd, 56.10) and Jordan Smith (4th, 56.62).
More Top Performances
Sophomore Josephine Dal set a personal best with a fifth-place leap of 5.57 meters (18-03.25 ft.) in Friday’s long jump, and then also finished fifth in the 60-meter hurdles (8.86) on Saturday.
Walker broke five minutes in her first mile of the season with a fourth-place finish of 4:58.88, while senior Anna Grace Morgan was seventh at 5:02.03.
In the 3,000 meters, freshman Jenna Holland was fourth with a time of 9:58.98 and sophomore Caroline Eck was fifth at 9:59.97.
Nearly a full year ago, Vanderbilt’s last meet was the 2020 SEC Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas, Feb. 28-29.
On Deck
Next up, Vanderbilt will travel to Fayetteville for the Arkansas Qualifier Feb. 5 and will host the Music City Challenge Feb. 12-13 prior to the SEC Championships Feb. 26-27 back in Fayetteville.
