Women's Track & Field Wins Anderson Invitational

ANDERSON, Ind. – The Taylor women's track and field team claimed a win at the Anderson Invitational on Saturday, defeating five fellow Crossroads League teams in the process.

The distance medley relay team of Elaine Schmeltz, Courtney Thompson, Sarina Oleson, and Alex Berends destroyed the field, winning by nearly 45 seconds and hitting the NAIA 'A' Standard to automatically qualify for the Indoor National Championships with a time of 12:24.02.

Schmeltz added to her stellar day with a victory in the 3,000 meter run. Schmeltz race time of 10:25.75 met the automatic qualification mark for the Indoor National Championships. Berends added a second place finish (10:38.17) while Anissa Richards raced to fourth place (10:54.21) as the Trojans dominated.

Allison Steinbeck continued her stellar season with a victory in the 5,000 meter run while Hannah Schroder added a third place finish in the race and both runners provisionally qualified for the NAIA Indoor National Championships.

Jane Hawks raced to a victory in the 1,000 meter run finishing with a time of 3:08.49 while Oleson added a third place finish at 3:13.09.

Junior Princess Sakeuh blew away the competition in the 60 meter dash, winning the race by a ten of a second with a time of 8.00.

Freshman Shelby Wilson logged her first official meet with the Trojans, racing to a second place finish in the mile with a time of 5:30.25 while junior Taryn Seeland finished one spot behind with a time of 5:35.32. Wilson added a sixth place finish in the 800 meter run (2:27.70) while Jenna Norris finished fourth in the same race with a time of 2:26.21.

TU's 4x400 rely team of Wilson, Oleson, Lexi Simpson, and Kathryn Gerig added a third place finish with a time of 4:26.75.

Freshman Tori Gaesser scored five points for the Trojans in the pole vault, clearing 2.60 meters.

The Trojans return to action at the Hoosier Invitational and Indiana University in Bloomington on Friday and Saturday.