Feb. 26, 2012
Vanderbilt’s track and field program continues to improve, as the team wrapped up their weekend at the SEC Indoor Championships with competitive appearances and a few personal bests.
“Great competitive spirit from the women today,” said Head Coach Steve Keith. “We had three solid events, scoring in two and coming very close in the third. High jump started things off with Ellie Tidman and Brionne Williams jumping 5-9.25, good for 9th and 10th. That was a personal best for Ellie. The high jump was incredibly deep this year and I thought our sophomores competed well.”
The Commodores held their momentum heading into the running events, as Louise Hannallah had a personal best and became the No. 2 all-time school leader in the 5K with a time of 16:39. Allie Scalf competed in her first-ever 5K event, setting a PR of 17:00, good for 12th place in the event.
“Louise ran well in the 5k picking off two places in the last 800 to finish 7th,” said Keith. “We hoped we could score in the 5k and Louise came through with two hard-earned points.”
“The DMR finished things off and in fine form; 4th place and a new school record of 11:19.76 (9 seconds better than our old record),” said Keith.
Jordan White led off with a strong 1200 leg of 3:29.4, with Erin Edmond following with a 55.4 split for the 400, keeping the Commodores in the front group.
“Kristen Findley’s run at 2:08.7 for the 800 put Liz Anderson in good position for the anchor,” said Keith. “Liz made a nice move with 400 to go, securing 4th place, and almost caught Florida with her 4:46.0 1600 anchor leg.”
“Great to see all of the women step up and compete at an SEC level,” said Keith. “We are starting to score in more events and with some development and quality recruiting I can see us moving up in the standings.”
The Commodores break for a few weeks before entering the outdoor season in mid-March at the Rhodes Invitational.
