Trojans Take Second at Little State Championships as Hall Sets Program Record

MARION, Ind. – The Taylor women's track and field program had a terrific two days of action at the Little State Championships, hitting multiple NAIA Standards while finishing second overall and first among NAIA schools. 

Taylor began the meet by hitting the NAIA B Standard in the 4x800-meter relay, as they ran the event for the first time this season. Abby Mays, Noel VanderWall, Emily Johnson, and Olivia Jeanette combined for a third-place finish in the race, finishing with a time of 9:27.36. 

Ashley Hall continued her record-breaking senior year by setting a new school record in the 400-meters with a blistering time of 57.12 seconds to finish second, which also hit the NAIA B Standard. The senior also notched a first-place finish in the 200-meters with a time of 25.53 seconds and was joined by Kiana Siefert, D'Arjha Davis, and Nicole Domene in the 4x100-meter relay squad which won the even and hit the NAIA B Standard with a time of 47.45. 

The Trojans got another victory in the 100-meters as Davis ran a time of 12.38 seconds. Hall was close behind, finishing sixth by carding a time of 12.48 seconds. 

Ahna Neideck led the charge for TU in its most dominant event of the day, the 5,000-meters, winning the race, as four Trojans finished in the top eight. Joining Neideck was Audrey Brinkruff in third, Mollie Gamble placing sixth, and Sam Patterson in eighth. Neideck and Brinkruff hit the NAIA A Standard with times of 17:12.63 and 17:16.18 respectively, while Gamble and Patterson notched the NAIA B Standard at 17:31.58 and 17:39.75. 

Mays grabbed the final victory for TU, running a time of 2:18.01 in the 800-meters. Siefert scored points in three events, with a pair of second-place showings in the 100-meter hurdles and long jump. Siefert also has a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles, where Claire Bailey notched a third-place finish. 

Taylor ended up in second place with 124 points, two more than cross-county rival Indiana Wesleyan. The Trojans will compete next in the Crossroads League Championships after a week off, with the competition set to begin Friday, May 2 at 9:30 am.