Taylor Showcases Strength at IWU Invite
MARION, Ind. – In the final outing before the 2019 Crossroads League Indoor Track and Field Championships, the defending league champs flexed their muscles with five wins and 15 top-five finishes at Saturday's Indiana Wesleyan Invite.
Taylor hit five NAIA A standard times and one B standard in the 19-event meet and posted top-10 marks in the nation in a trio of events.
The distance-medley relay led the way, posting the third-fastest time in the NAIA and crossing in first place with a time of 12:30.83. The group of Rachel Blagg, Miriam Wood, Abbey Brennan and Sarah Harden won the race by 15 seconds and automatically qualified for the NAIA National Championships.
Blagg added an individual win and hit her second A standard of the day with a time of 3:00.51 in the 1,000-meters, posting the NAIA's fourth-best time in the event entering this weekend. Corinne O'Leary joined Blagg near the front of the pack, taking third at 3:09.71.
Taylor also dominated the mile, with Mae Elizabeth Gimre and Sarah Harden sweeping the top-two spots with times of 5:15.44 and 5:16.09 for a seven-second gap on third place in the 38-member field and took three top-10's in the 3,000-meters. Taylor Bluemel led TU in the event with a time of 10:33.23 to finish third and provisionally qualify for Nationals, while Amanda Dibley and Michelle Franch ended in ninth and tenth.
Livy Schroder turned in a blistering time of 18:13.98 to take second in the 5,000-meters, automatically qualifying for Nationals with the ninth-best time in the NAIA this season and Plenseh-Tay Sakeuh topped 27 competitors with a time of 8.91 in the 60-meter hurdles to hit the NAIA A standard for the third time in as many tries this season. Sakeuh also won the long jump and automatically qualified for Nationals with a leap of 5.72 meters.
Other notable individual performances included Wood taking second in the triple jump, Brianna Jordahl ending fifth in the weight throw, Anna Souzis finishing fifth in the 600-meters and Brennan crossing third in the 800-meters.
Taylor will look to defend its 2018 Crossroads League Indoor Championship on February 8 and 9 when it hosts the league meet in the Kesler Student Activities Center. Action is set to begin at 9:30 am each day.