Mavericks Conclude Successful Indoor Season at Summit League Championships

Saturday, February 25

Vermillion, S.D.

TBA

Omaha

Summit League Championships

Mavericks Conclude Successful Indoor Season at Summit League Championships

Feb 27, 2023 | Track & Field

The Omaha Track and Field team traveled to Vermillion, SD for the Summit League Indoor Championships on Saturday and Sunday after weather delayed competition from its original Friday/Saturday date. The Mavericks kicked off their championships weekend with a season best time of 9.55 in the 60m hurdles and an indoor shot put PR from Taylor Ramaekers in the pentathlon. The great performances continued in the throws with Lucy Turner tossing a new lifetime best of 50'8" on her 3^rd attempt in the weight throw to improve her spot at #7 in school history. Mary Fennessy launched a massive PR of 55'6.25" to besting her previous farthest by nearly two feet. That mark moved her up to #3 in program history.

On the track, Carrie Simonson sprinted to a 7.71 in the 60m prelims which was just .01 off her lifetime best which qualified her for Sunday's final. Macy Persinger looked strong in her 400m to run a 59.18, shaving .64 off her previous fastest which she set the week before. In the 800m, Maddie Yardley dipped below 2:20 for the first time by running a 2:19.85, a three second improvement from her fastest prior time. In the final event of the first day, the Distance Medley Relay (1200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m) team of Lauren Metzger, Vanessa Gunderson, Gwen Steffen and Kamryn Ensley came away with a 5^th place finish. Their time of 12:15.46 was the 5^th fastest relay time in school history.

Day two opened up with an exciting triple jump competition for the Mavericks. Bernice Lawson powered through her three phases to soar to a new lifetime best of 35'1.25", jumping over 35' for the first time. With one jump remaining, freshman Emma Klein found herself outside the top nine spots that would qualify for finals. The final qualifying spot sat at distance sat at 38'2", equaling Klein's lifetime best. On her final attempt of the prelims, she launched herself a new PR distance of 38'2.25" to claim the final spot by the narrowest of margins.

Back in the throws, Mary Fennessy also found herself outside of a qualifying spot for the finals of the shot put. On her final throw of the prelims, she launched the 4k ball a new indoor personal best of 44'9". That distance placed her 7^th and improved her to #4 in school history. Fennessy came into the competition ranked 11^th and finished and impressive four spots better.

Across the track at the high jump, two Mavericks were in a battle with gravity. After Milan Coggins made the opening bar of 5'1" on her first attempt, teammate Kaitlin Hellbusch found herself in a predicament by missing the first two attempts. With one final opportunity to remain in the competition, she kept her composure and made the bar with room to spare. On the next height of 5'3", both cleared the bar on their first attempts which lead to Coggins finishing 5^th and Hellbusch 6^th for valuable team points.

On the track, Carrie Simonson lined up for the finals of the 60m. As the official raised the starting pistol, a hush swept across the facility. When the shot rang out, Simonson pushed out of the starting blocks and sprinted down the track. She crossed the line in7.65 to finish 4^th, three spot better than her incoming ranking. Her time dropped .05 off her previous best and she finishes her indoor career ranked #6 in school history.

In the final event of the competition, the 4x400m relay team of Macy Persinger, Gwen Steffen, Paige Blackford and Vanessa Gunderson ran a season best time of 4:01.64 which was good for 6^th place.

The Mavericks finished the meet with nine personal bests, six top 8 finishes and five Omaha All-Time Top 10 performances.

"One of the main messages the coaches told the athletes before the competition was to compete. We saw that a lot over the past two day. There were many instances where our athletes weren't expected to finish as high as they did, but they fought hard and didn't give up. When there was a time that they could have thrown in the towel, they decided to step up. You never know what you're capable of until you go out and do it. The fact that we were able to finish the meet with a lot of point scorers and 5 new or improved marks in our top 10 list just shows the hard work of our athlete as well as Coach Cisar and Coach Stopak have been putting in all season."