Omaha
Jim Duncan Invitational
Track & Field Split for Big Weekend in California and Iowa
Apr 14, 2024 | Track & Field
The Omaha Track and Field team had a very successful weekend in competitions across the country. A group of Mavericks ventured out to Azusa, CA for the Bryan Clay Invitational while the rest of the team stayed more local at the Jim Duncan Invitational in Des Moines, IA.
Action at the Jim Duncan Invitational was on Friday and began with the 4x100m relay team of Jade Jackson, Ashley Ostrand, Grace Mustard and Avyn Urbanski running a season best time of 47.90 to finish 2nd.
The next running event had a trio of Mavericks lined up in front of 10 hurdles for the 100m hurdles. Jade Jackson led the way with a time of wind aided personal best time of 14.69. Grace Mustard finished just behind her with a wind aided best of 14.96. Both had a wind 2.2, just barely over the legal limit. Addison Webster did manage a legal wind lifetime best of 15.29.
Up next was an exciting 1500m that saw another trio of Mavericks run well in the first section. Sydney Beaudin and Liv Steffen exchanged the lead for the first 1200m until they were overtaken on the backstretch of the final lap. Coming off the last curve, Steffen and Beaudin stormed back with Steffen taking the race with a personal best time of 5:04.15 and Beaudin just behind in 5:04.50. Ella Calderon finished two more spots back with a time of 5:06.32. That time dropped 17 seconds off her previous fastest.
In the 100m, Avyn Urbanski finished with a 12.30 and Ashley Ostrand ran a wind aided personal best of 12.52. In the final running event of the day for the Mavericks, Emma Hain propelled herself to a personal best time of 18:47.11 and a 7th place finish.
In the field events, Ali Wiseman finished runner up in the triple jump while fellow freshman Shay Sinnard long jumped 17'6.25" for 6th place. In the hammer throw, Chloe Walker threw a personal best of 143'5" on her third throw. That distance marked the 10th farthest throw in program history.
At the Bryan Clay Invitational, Lauren Metzger came ready to compete by running a school record in the 10000m. Her time of 35:50.97 won her section, beat the previous school record by 12 seconds and was a lifetime best by nearly a minute. Lior Kremer also made a jump into the top 10 list by running the 6th fastest time in school history with a time of 37:47.43.
Just a short time later, Kamryn Ensley made some noise of her own in the 5000m. In a race with tough competition, Ensley drove down the last stretch to cross the line to set a new school record by less than a second. Ensley's time of 16:51.45 slashed 22 seconds off her personal best. Next up was the 800m where Emily Treptow dropped a second off her lifetime best with a 2:18.95. In the 1500m a pair of Omaha runners both came away with PR's. Lily Schwartz dropped 12 seconds off her previous fastest to run a 4:44.54. After her 5000m school record, Kamryn Ensley came back to run late night a 4:43.81 with her crossing the finish line at past midnight Omaha time.
In the high jump, Kaitlin Hellbusch tied her college best with a jump of 5'4.5"
Lastly, the 4x400m relay of Macy Persinger, Ava Robinson, Nina Cuevas, and Tania Gleason ran the fastest time since 2016 with a time of 3:54.17.
"I was happy how a lot of people competed this weekend. It can be tough when you split between places because your specific coach might not be with you, but a lot of those athletes were still able to walk away with some PR's. I was really happy at the two school records Kam, Lauren and Coach Cisar were able to get. I know they have been running hard and well and it showed."
Overall the Mavericks ended the weekend with two school records including four new or improved marks in the UNO all-time top 10 lists. They will next travel to the Kansas Relays on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
