By Ranger Athletic Department
Northwestern Oklahoma State University track and field athletes had a great event Friday and Saturday as they took part in the Oklahoma Baptist Invitational in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The Ranger athletes boasted 12 top five finishes in various events.
Two Northwestern throwers finished second in their respective events. Krissie May finished in second in the javelin throw Friday with a mark of 31.62 meters for a new personal record, while Rayna Patton had a second place mark in the discus throw at 36.54.
Eryn Setzer competed in both events, including a fourth place finish in the javelin at 27.94 meters and 27.49 in the discus to finish eighth.
Cayla Smither logged a second place finish in the triple jump at 10.03 meters, just ahead of teammate Alexa Leyva(9.87) in third place. Kaitlyn McClary (9.43) also closed the event inside the top ten as her mark gave her a seventh place distance.
Leyva and McCLary each had new PR’s with their marks.
In the always tough steeplechase, Jessalyn Rivet-Tissot ran the event to a third place finish as she crossed the line at 12:47.08. She also set a new PR in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:45.89.
In the high jump, a pair of Rangers finished back-to-back with Lashayla Green and Gina Wilson claiming the fourth and fifth place spots, respectively. Wilson also finished sixth in the women›s long jump, just behind Keiazyiah Youngwho finished in fifth place with a 4.42-meter distance.
Young logged a fourth place time of 1:03.37 in the 400-meter dash, as well as a fifth place finish in the 4×100 relay with teammates Green, Smither and Kylee Isbell.
In the shot put, a trio of Rangers finished in consecutive order with Jenny Martinez (10.92 meters, personal record) finishing in fifth place, Rosaria Milton (10.41) picked up a sixth place finish and Setzer (10.37) earned seventh place. Continuing to improve on her previous meet’s performance, Kayla Gourley again produced another PR in the 1500-meter run with a 5:24.41.
Camille Lear also PR’d in the 1500 with a time of 5:43.73.
Green improved her time in the 400-meter dash by almost two seconds for a new PR in the event when she crossed the line at the 1:08.52 mark, while Megan Mayfield exceeded her previous mark with a 27.64 time in the 200-meter.Other personal records eclipsed at the OBU Invite include: Leyva, 400-meter hurdles (1:19.47); Martinez, hammer throw (32.59 meters); Melissa Perez, 800-meter (3:05.85), 1500-meter (6:17.58); Claire Theis, 200-meter (30.06), 100-meter hurdles (18.44).
The coaching staff was pleased with the continued improvement, but also look forward to getting back to work in preparation for the next meet at the Parent-McGrady Invitational in Yukon, Oklahoma on April 5.
“Today, we continued to see things we are doing well, but there are areas we have to work,” said head coach Jill Lancaster. Associate head coach Brock Hime echoed the statement by Lancaster.
“I saw some good performances, but we›ve got major deficiency›s in areas of racing,” he said. “Weve got more work to do.”