Nashville, Tenn. & Richmond, Ky.- - The Belmont women's track & field team had a successful day near their home turf at the Vanderbilt Black & Gold Invitational, where they earned four top-two finishes.
Senior Adreanna Parlette (Nashville, Tenn.) once again shined in long jump, placing first with a mark of 5.90. With her nearest competitors having completed their jumps, Parlette bypassed her final attempt.
Parlette also stood out in the 100m hurdles where she equaled the Belmont record of 14.05 seconds. She finished fourth, second in her heat, an eyelash from winning the heat.
"I was really pleased with Adreanna's hurdle race," assistant coach Cameron Harvey said. "She dropped her time by close to three-tenths of a second in her 100m hurdle race, which you normally don't do at her training age. She is starting to realize how great an athlete she can be. That has translated into these big marks she's putting up."
Freshman Grace Litzinger (Fayetteville, Ark.) showed courage in her debut in the 3000m steeplechase, placing third with a time of 11:24.24.
"It takes a lot of guts to get into the steeplechase, and it's tough to do it without a whole lot of experience, because you never really know the feeling of going over a water jump or even standard barriers later on in the race until you've done it a couple of times," assistant coach Kate Bucknam said. "The amount of grit she had today is great, and it shows she will have a lot of success in this event in the future."
Senior Caroline Pruitt (Allen, Texas) posted yet another personal best time of 1:01.51 in the 400m hurdles. She continues to lead the Ohio Valley Conference in the event.
"Pruitt looked strong and beat her number one competitor in the conference by a hair," Harvey said. "That was nice to see in real-time and not just hypothetically on the stat sheets."
Junior Tyra Finkeldey (Old Saybrook, Conn.) placed second in pole vault with a mark of 3.80m.
"Tyra is showing a lot more consistency from jump to jump, which makes it easier to make adjustments and tie everything together during a meet," Harvey said.
Sophomore Maddie Quinn (Bible Hill, Canada) maintained her top billing in the OVC with another meet title in the women's javelin, posting 42.39m.
"It wasn't the best day per se, but Maddie did what she had to do to win the meet today," assistant coach Joe Frye said. "It was just one of those days when the javelin wasn't flying as well as it normally does for her. She made the adjustments and ended up with a pretty good throw to win the meet."
"The women are covering all events really well right now. And we are staying healthy and being smart about the way we are training and competing," Belmont Director of Track & Field Jeff Langdon sad. "They are starting to realize how good they can be as a team."
Meanwhile, sophomore Lily Hallum (Mason, Ohio), traveled to Richmond, Kentucky to run in the Rick Erdmann Twilight's 1500m invitational.
The OVC cross country silver medalist finished 19th in a stacked field of seasoned runners from the likes of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Butler
"Lily was great for about 900 meters, but then when the rest of the ladies made a move, she wasn't able to respond as well as she would have liked," Bucknam said. "One of the many hurdles collegiate athletes face is balancing school with athletics, and this being finals' week for Belmont was part of the equation. She managed to shave a second off her previous 1500m personal record, running it in 4:36.47. Another wonderful experience, and Lily's got plenty of great races ahead of her."
The Bruins return to competition in the Redhawk Invitational April 23-24.
Belmont Results
Rick Erdmann Twilight
Richmond, KY.
Women's 1500m Invitational
19. Lily Hallum SO., –4:36.47*
Black & Gold Invitational
Nashville, Tenn.
Women's Hammer
4. Jessica Mattsson SR., – 54.27m
7. Rebekah Stucker FR., – 51.28m
Women's Discus
2. Rebekah Stucker FR., – 44.60m
9. Olivia Moyer FR., – 39.82m
Women's Shot Put
4. Rebekah Stucker FR., – 13.96m
10. Olivia Moyer FR., – 12.08m
Women's Javelin
1. Maddie Quinn SO., – 42.39m
4. Grace Maniscalco SO., – 39.39m*
14. Allison Gunderson SO., – 28.65m
Women's Pole Vault
2. Tyra Finkeldey JR., – 3.80m
Women's High Jump
6. Jeanette Morley SR., – 1.63m
9. Sade Alalade SO., – 1.58m
9. Adreanna Parlette SR., – 1.58m
Women's Long Jump
2. Adreanna Parlette SR., – 5.90m
Women's 100m Hurdles
4. Adreanna Parlette SR., – 14.05*+
12. Michella Diebenow FR., – 14.77*
Women's 400m Hurdles
2. Caroline Pruitt SR., – 1:01.51*
7. Michella Diebenow FR., –1:04.05
9. Tara Hitchcock SO., –1:09.84
Women's 3000m Steeplechase
3. Grace Litzinger FR., – 11:24.24*
Women's 200m
18. Sarah Richmond FR., – 25.82
21. Payton Barlow SR., – 26.00
28. Savanah Balcerak FR., – 26.49
Women's 400m
6. Payton Barlow SR., – 56.77
NA. Savanah Balcerak FR., – DNS
Women's 800m
21. Brooke Garter FR., –2:19.06
Women's 1500m
4. Halle Hausman SR., – 4:42.73
7. Claire Cheeseman SR., –4:45.39
18. Brooke Garter FR., –4:56.07
19. Caroline Daniel SR., –4:57.08
Women's 3000m
6. Katie Flaherty SO., – 10:25.06
8. Anna Arrick SR., – 10:50.11
Women's 5000m
9. Maddy Malczewski SR., – 17:57.86
Women's 4 x 100m
4 of 5 48.62
1. Sarah Richmond FR., 2. Caroline Pruitt SR.,
3. Savanah Balcerak FR., 4. Katrina Quigley SR.,
Women's 4 x 400m
6 of 10 3:57.01
1. Sarah Richmond FR., – 57.65 2. Savanah Balcerak FR., – 58.41
3. Sade Alalade SO., – 58.65 4. Kayli Clark FR., – 1:02.29
*Personal Record
**Belmont Record
+ Belmont Record Tied
