Women's Track & Field Finishes Third at CL Championships

GOSHEN, Ind. – The Taylor women's track and field team won a total of five events en route to a third place finish at the Crossroads League Championships on Saturday.

Senior Elaine Schmeltz collected two victories for the Trojans with wins in the 5,000-meter and the steeplechase. Schmeltz led an impressive 1-2 punch for the Trojans in the 5,000-meter as the senior won with a time of 18:36.06 followed closely by freshman Alex Berends who finished just .07 seconds behind Schmeltz.

Schmeltz also won the steeplechase, her fourth consecutive Crossroads League title in the race, to lead a trio of Trojans to finish in the top seven in the event. Schmeltz time of 11:28.49 hit the NAIA 'B' standard while TU's Alyssa Hatteberg added a fourth place finish and Michaela Pfeifer finished seventh for TU.

Berends added another TU victory in the 1,500-meter run with an NAIA 'B' standard time of 4:40.32. Taylor also got a third place finish from senior Kayla Liefeld in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.76.

Junior Haley White won her third consecutive Crossroads League title in the javelin with a toss of 38.14 meters.

The TU relay teams saw success as the 4x100 relay team finished second and the 4x800 relay team took third.

Taylor took third place in the championships with 128 points. Indiana Wesleyan won the title with 218 points and Bethel finished second with 170 points.

The Trojans will compete in one more regular season event at the North Central Invitational on May 7-8 before several TU athletes will begin preparations for the NAIA National Championships.