Results
Louisville, KY – The Patriots earned their third straight Mid-South Conference indoor title on Thursday with a stellar team performance at the MSC Indoor T&F Championships. Cumberlands finished the day with 256 team points, 88 points more than the second-place finishers. Sharon Jemeli earned a top-award, earning MSC Freshman of the Year honors.
UC won eight events on the day, two coming from the MSC Freshman of the Year. Jemeli cruised to victories in the 3K and 5K, running A standards in both. She finished her 3K in 9:40.24 and her 5K in 17:18.30. Alina Boshchuk finished second in the 5K for eight team points while Elke Wijkmans ran right beside Boshchuk for third. Tarikua Majocchi clocked a 10:10.77 in the 3K for third, followed by Wijkman's 10:22.22 for fourth. Julia Meiner-Duedahl finished fifth while Chloe West and Anslee Crosby rounded out UC's scorers in the 3K with seventh and eight place finishes, respectively. The mile saw Majocchi finish second with a 5:20.10 performance. Meiner-Duedahl clocked a 5:28.11 for third with West and Crosby running mile times of 5:29.41 and 5:35.17 for fourth and sixth.
Mya Hines had an incredible day, winning the long jump with a 5.86m leap, the best LJ in the NAIA this season and a new school record. She followed that with another A standard mark in the high jump. Hines cleared the bar at 1.68m for the silver medal. Jaci Woods finished sixth in the HJ with a 1.45m as well. Hines continued the meet with a third-place finish in the 60m hurdles, her third All-Conference finish. She crossed the finish line in 9.21 while Woods clocked a 10.18 for fourth. Woods also competed in the triple jump, placing second with an 11.28m best.
Elizabeth Lucason also won a pair of events in Louisville. She ran a 2:23.79 in the 800m and a 3:06.50 in the 1K. Elisa Helferich finished third in the 800m behind a 2:28.78 while Megan Kitchens and Jasmin Ponce crossed the finish line in 2:31.03 and 2:31.11 for fourth and fifth. Ponce earned third in the 1K, Helferich came away with fourth, and Kitchens sixth.
The Pats swept the podium in the 3K racewalk led by Alexa Governor who clocked a 14:14.40 for the fastest time in the NAIA this year. Ava Newkirk finished second with a 14:51.66 while Lillian Bittencourt earned third with a 15:49.07. Isabelle Blatz rounded out UC's finishers in sixth.
All three UC relays earned All-Conference finishes, with the DMR and 4x800 hitting national standards. The DMR squad of Lucason, Abia Kante, Kitchens, and Boshchuk ran a 12:09.62 for a top-10 time in the NAIA. Helferich, Meiner-Duedahl, Kitchens, and Lucason clocked a 9:35.33 to win the 4x800.
UC's throws found success as well led by Maggie Buerger who placed second in the weight throw with a 14.33m mark. Delaney Deaton also posted a scoring performance in the WT with a 12.09m best. Hines was the top shot-put finishers with a 9.96 while Buerge finished sixth with a 9.88m best. Woods threw 9.47m for seventh and Taylor Lunsford posted an eighth-place performance of 9.06m.
Lillian Guzman was the Patriots top sprinter, finishing third in the 60m dash with a 7.70 finish. Allie Bryson clocked a 7.86 for fifth in the finals as well. Guzman then ran a 25.54 200m for fifth. The 400m featured Kante and A'Yana Gray who went third and eighth in 58.26 and 1:01.22.
The 4x400 finished the meet with a third-place finish. Guzman started the relay before Gray took over for the second leg. Kennedi Riascos then handled the third leg with Bryson anchoring for a combined time of 4:16.69.
The Pats will be back in action this weekend as they travel to Vanderbilt for the Music City Challenge.
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