Huskies find success at Vanderbilt Invitational

Friday, January 18

Nashville, Tenn.

University of Connecticut

Vanderbilt Invitational

1/19/2019 8:57:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

Nine Top-10 finishes

Final Results

Nashville, Tenn.—The University of Connecticut women's track and field team wrapped up the two-day Vanderbilt Invitational in the Music City on Saturday evening. The Huskies took part in the meet hosted by Vanderbilt which began on Friday, January 18th. UConn nabbed nine top-10 finishes over the course of the two-day Vanderbilt Invitational.

The meet brought student-athletes from Auburn, Southern Mississippi, Alabama, Ole Miss, Ball State, Mississippi State, Lipscomb, Middle Tennessee State, UAB, Austin Peay, Western Kentucky, Belmont, Cincinnati, Furman, Georgia Tech, Louisiana Tech, Southern Alabama, Memphis, Tennessee State, and Tennessee Tech.

"We had some more personal records established today and put some national marks on the board, overall we are moving in the right direction," said Head Coach J.J. Clark.

Friday's events included the 200m, 5000m, High Jump, Long Jump, and Weight Throw. Jaclyn Gallery and Haley Hasty crossed the finish at third—17:07.52 and seventh—17:25.67 respectively. Taylor Woods' 6.03m long jump notched her sixth place. Joining Woods in the top-10 was Amaris Blount who competed in the Weight Throw and hurled a 19.13m effort. Chanell Botsis also competed in the Weight Throw at 16.93m. Kelly Ward and Julia Sullivan both had top-30 finishes in the high jump at 15th—1.65m and 25th—1.55m respectively. The 200m Dash featured five Huskies; Jiana Baker (39th, 25.61), Shanelle Colmon (42nd, 25.67), Dejanee Parms (43rd, 25.68), Kristina Cherrington (54th, 26.00), and Tia Strackman (81st, 26.89).

UConn carried over their success into the final day of competition with five of the top-10 finishes coming on Saturday. The events featured were the Pole Vault, Shot Put, 3000m, Mile, 800m, 400m, 60m Hurdles, 60m, 4x400m Relay. The field events were a bright spot for the Huskies as Divine Oladipo's Shot Put of 15.35m secured her eighth while Emma Chee and Megan Biscoglio competed in the Pole Vault with finishes of 13th—3.69m and 17th—3.54m respectively. In the 3000m, Sarah Leatherwood (17th, 10:05.26) and Katelynn Romanchick (27th, 10:19.53) were the pair for UConn vying for positon.

Dejanee Parms competed in the 400m Dash with a time of 58.66, a top-30 finish. In the Prelims for the 60m Hurdles and 60m Dash, UConn held their own with several placing in the top-30 in Tia Strackman—58.66, Jiana Baker—7.73 and Taylor Woods—7.86. Finishing closely behind teammates Baker and Woods was Shanelle Colmon with a time of 7.89 in the 60m Dash, a 33rd place finish. In the 4x400m Relay the A-Team's time of 3:48.37 secured them a sixth place finish while the B-Team came in 13th at 4:11.00.

Susan Aneno carried her success from the Nittany Lion Challenge last week into this 800m race, finishing second overall with a time of 2:03.94. "Susan broke the school record during her 800m race which is No. 2 in the country right now," said Coach Clark. Hannah Parker and Lindsey Kane were also finishers at 8th—2:13.13 and 22nd—2:20.00 respectively.

The Mile held the most Huskies in contention with a total of eight entered in the race. Mia Nahom led the pack with a time of 4:54.51, which secured her a third place finish. Top-20 in the Mile were Talia Staiger (15th, 5:03.54) and Kelsey Swanson (19th, 5:05.01). Other finishers for UConn were Allie Alsup—5:07.74, Celia Chacko—5:11.76, Randi Burr—5:12.25, Regan Schiappa—5:13.99, and Courtney Akerley—5:19.62.