Harden Hits NAIA 'A' Standard at Mastodon Invite

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Taylor women's track and field team continued its indoor season on Saturday at the Mastodon Invitational hosted by Purdue Fort Wayne. The Trojans finished fifth-of-eight teams and scored a total of 55 points. Indiana Tech won the meet with 189 points, Wright State placed second (80), Northern Kentucky finished in third (67) and Purdue Fort Wayne claimed fourth place (66).

Junior Sarah Harden was the standout runner for the Trojans, winning the 3,000-meter run and qualifying for NAIA Nationals with A standard. Harden logged a time of 10:12.91, finishing 19-seconds ahead of second place. Also in the 3,000-meter run was Livy Schroder who placed fourth (10:36.58), Giovanna Domene in 12th place (11:09.08) and Maddie Weeden in 15th (11:35.59).

TU's distance-medley relay finished in first place with a time of 12:51.08. The squad consisted of Giovanna Domene, Jo'Deci Irby, Brooke Studnicki and Corinne O'Leary.

Two Trojan hurdlers qualified for finals in the 60-meter hurdles. Senior Sarah Robinson finished in fourth with a time of 9.36 and freshman Audrey Altum claimed seventh place logging 9.50.

In the mid-distance events, freshmen Madeline Purdom and Hannah Loeffler competed in the mile run. Purdom nabbed 11th place in 5:40.04 and Loeffler finished in 13th with a time of 5:45.02. Corinne O'Leary led TU in the 800-meter run finishing in fifth place (2:25.95), followed by Brooke Studnicki in eighth (2:27.63) and Grace Sherrow in 15th (2:36.91).

The 4x400-meter relay team of Jo'Deci Irby, Eden Siples, Audrey Altum and Sarah Robinson finished in third place, logging a time of 4:16.73.

Stephanie Wadsworth claimed fifth place in the weight throw with a toss of 8.72 meters. Wadsworth launched the shot put 9.63 meters, taking eighth place overall.

Kenley Blake dominated the jumps, finishing sixth place in the triple jump with a mark of 10.15 meters and fifth place in the high jump clearing 1.58 meters. Eden Siples finished ninth place in the high jump logging 1.43 meters and Hannah Tienvieri placed 10th in the long jump with a leap of 4.89 meters.

TU will return to action on January 24 and 25 at the IU Gladstein Invite in Bloomington, Indiana.