NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt track and field wrapped up its regular season at home Saturday at the Music City Challenge.
“This is the best home meet we have had in my three years at Vanderbilt,” director of track and field and cross country Althea Thomas said. “It was a great way to salute the seniors as we had many personal bests, set Vandy top 10 marks, defended our track with several wins and improved various event rankings in the SEC and NCAA East Region.”
In the hammer throw, Kosi Umerah PRed to improve her No. 2 mark on the program all-time performers list to 58.70 meters. She placed fifth in the invite division.
Vanderbilt student-athletes placed first and second in the open division of the high jump. Madison Murray won the event, matching her personal-best clearance of 1.73 meters. Alix Still came in second with a top mark of 1.70 meters. Rowan Houston and Marta Sivina tied for sixth place, clearing the 1.62-meter bar, a season best for both Dores.
The 4×100-meter relay team of Ella Escobar, Haley Bishop, Nicole Anderson and Allyria McBride shaved 0.63 seconds off their race time to move up to third in school history and win the event with a time of 45.52 seconds.
Murray, Taylor McKinnon, Sivina and Santana Spearman recorded all-conditions personal bests in the first round of the 100-meter hurdles and advanced to the second round. Murray had a time of 14.66 seconds (3.8 m/s) and Sivina turned in a 14.09-second time (2.1 m/s). Spearman and McKinnon had the second and third fastest qualifying times of 13.20 seconds (2.5 m/s) and 13.58 seconds (4.5 m/s), respectively.
Falon Spearman, S. Spearman and McKinnon moved on to the short hurdles final. F. Spearman recorded a time of 13.18 seconds (2.1 m/s) to qualify. Sivina improved upon her first-round time for another PR of 13.99 seconds (4.6 m/s).
F. Spearman matched her preliminary-round time of 13.18 seconds (4.3 m/s) in the final to finish third. S. Spearman was just behind her, placing fourth with a time of 13.28 seconds (4.3 m/s). McKinnon was sixth in the final with a time of 13.68 seconds (4.3 m/s)
Bishop and Lena Gooden recorded the two fastest qualifying times for the 100 meters to move onto the second round, both marks were all-conditions PRs. Bishop turned in a time of 11.38 seconds (4.4 m/s), and Gooden crossed the finish line in 11.59 seconds (2.1 m/s). Gooden ran a time of 11.65 seconds (1.6 m/s) in the preliminary round, a wind-legal personal best. Bishop would go on to place fourth in the event final with a time of 11.53 seconds (2.8 m/s).
McBride won 400 meters, recording a personal-best time of 53.47 seconds, the fifth-ranked mark in program history. Escobar turned in a time of 56.72 seconds in the 400 meters, good for eighth place.
Veronica Fraley was the top collegiate finisher and second overall in the invite division of the shot put with a season best 17.42-meter mark. Sarah Omoregie placed third, recording a 16.96-meter throw. Finishing sixth was Sarah Marvin who posted a 15.81-meter mark.
Umerah came in ninth in the open division of the shot put, recording a 13.18-meter throw.
Anaya Webster registered a 11.96-meter mark in the triple jump, good for fourth place and a collegiate best.
Adding her second program all-time top 10 mark of the weekend, Julia Rosenberg placed second in the 800 meters with a time of 2:07.45, 10th in school history and a personal best. Vandy’s second finisher in the 800 meters was Mackenzie Culpepper who had a time of 2:12.27 and finished 12th. Clara Steer (2:15.59) and Johna Grisik (2:16.66) recorded
collegiate-best times. Elsa Steer’s time of 2:16.59 is a personal best.
In the men’s 800 meters, Brady Bliven recorded a personal-best time of 1:50.28 to place second.
To close out the meet, the 4×400-meter relay team of Eva Gautreaux, Escobar, F. Spearman and McBride finished second with a time of 3:43.85, just 0.04 seconds behind winner Murray State.
The program recognized its 12 senior and graduate student-athletes as a part of senior day. Anderson, Bishop, Joslin Blair, Fraley, Jenna Holland, Max Hughes, Milan Ming, Omoregie, Andrew Pahnke, Lainey Phelps, Mathew Ragsdale and Alix Still were honored.
The Commodores will now look to postseason competition. They will compete at the SEC Outdoor Championships 9-11 in Gainesville, Florida.
“We have put ourselves in contention to improve on our great year last year at SECs,” Thomas said. “The student-athletes competed with the pride, confidence and determination we have been developing all year.”
