BEHREND WOMEN SECURES INDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP

The Penn State Behrend women's indoor track & field team had one individual champion, one relay team champion, and nine silver medalists to lead to its first ever United East Indoor Women's Track & Field Championship. Lion head coach Greg Cooper was named Coach of the Meet. In addition to Behrend's success as a team, Alfred State College's Izzy Popoff earned Female Track Athlete of the Meet honors.

Team Scores:

1.) Behrend 135.66
2.) St. Mary's (Md.) 135.5
T-3.) Alfred State 71
T-3.) Lancaster Bible 71
5.) Gallaudet 66.33
6.) Carlow 62.5
7.) Penn State Harrisburg 54

The lone individual champion for the Lions was Madison Kappeler in the pole vault with a personal-best score of 11-1 ¾, followed by Noelani Takei's runner-up season-best score of 10-0. The 4x4 relay team of Kappeler, Victoria Dietrich, Peyton Grimm, Ivy Laffan were crowned champions with a season-best time of 4:16.93. Senior Haley Felton received a silver medal in the 60m hurdles with a personal-best time of 10.18. Bridget McMaster ran a runner-up finish time of 2:34.45 and a personal record time of 21:24.40 for third place, notching All-United East honors in both events. Behrend tallied second and third-place finishes in the long jump from Kappeler (16-7 ¼) and Grimm (15-5). This score was a season-best from Kappeler. Freshman Rylee Long grabbed her first collegiate medal with a runner-up finish in the triple jump (35-10). In the women's weight throw, Jessica Park recorded a silver medal throw of 42-10 ¼, while Rachel Skoczlas tallied a personal best of 25-10 ¾ in this event and in the shot put (20-9 ¾). Another silver medalist for the Lions was Bethany Litwiler with a season-best time of 21:19.47 in the 5000m, followed by McMaster in third with a personal-best time (21:24.40). Laffan finished third for a bronze medal in the 400m, while Dietrich scored season-best times in the 200m and 400m (28.65/1:06/15). Sophomore Lindsey Hartle ran a pair of personal-best times for silver medals with finishes of 5:39.33 in the mile and 11:08.21 in the 3000m. Kappeler also went on to run a personal record time of 8:17 in the 60m, while Paige Massey threw a personal best in the shot put (35-10 ½). The distance medley relay team of Angelina Compeggie, McMaster, Felton, and Hartle notched third-place finish (14:23.69).

Alfred State tied for third place with Lancaster Bible with 71 points. For the Pioneers, Oli Kraynik opened the day with a first-place finish and broke the school record in the 400-meter dash, with a time 59.27. Popoff won the one mile run with a time of 5:35.63. With that time, she moved into third all time. Then she notched a third-place finish in the 800-meter run, after crossing the line in 2:36.45. Olivia Plummer was right behind her with a time of 2:36.45 for fourth place. Hailey Kumpf tallied a third-place finish in the 3000-meter run with a time of 11:46.16. Charis Evans notched a seventh-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles. In the final track event, the team of Kumpf, Kraynik, Plummer, and Popoff won the distance medley with a time of 14:13.05. That team moved into seventh all time with that time. Kraynik also took fourth in the pole vault after jumping 2.90 meters, Laura Walker in fifth. In the long jump, Madison Snayczuk jumped 4.62 meters to claim fourth place. Kenzi Gillette came third in the weight throw after throwing 12.66 meters. With that distance, Gillette moved into third all time. Then in the shot put, Jileena Stearns threw 9.76 meters for eighth place.

Molly Wagner led the Celtics on the track with a third place finish in the 60-meter dash (8.11) and was also a part of the 4x400 relay team of Christina Smith, Ella Cloak and Jaquelyn Heflin that placed third with a time of 4:35.15. Wagner also earned points for Carlow with a fourth place time of 26.92 in the 200. In addition to the 4x400 relay team, Smith landed in second place with a leap of 1.45 meters in high jump and secured a fourth place finish in the 60-meter hurdles (10.66). She also earned points for Carlow in triple jump with a seventh place leap of 9.25 meters. Sydney Taylor earned her first collegiate medal in triple jump with a third place leap of 10.42 meters and secured points in long jump, landing in fifth (4.56 meters). Leia Day landed a podium spot in high jump with a third place finish of 1.40 meters to round out the medal count for the Celtics, who finished sixth of seven teams with a team score of 62.5. She also placed ninth in long jump (4.28 meters). Trista Miller tallied two seventh place spots in the 60 and 200, while Malina Hall landed fifth and seventh in triple jump (9.58 meters) and long jump (4.32 meters), respectively. Cloak saw sixth and eighth place finishes in the 800 and 400, and Taylor Charity placed eighth in the 60. Heflin scored a point for the Celtics with an eight place finish in the 800 (2:46.08), and Emma Sovich threw 8.22 meters in shot put to place 13th.