Women's Track & Field Leads MVC Outdoor Championships After Day 1

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - - With electrifying performances across the board, Belmont University women's track & field made its presence felt on Day 1 of the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships from the Gibson Track & Field Complex on the campus of Indiana State University.
 
The Bruins earned four podium finishes Friday – including three individual event victories – to stand first overall in the team standings with 44 points.
 
Rebekah Stucker got Belmont going with a third-place finish in the hammer throw, with a mark of 57.01m.
 
From there, Tyra Finkeldey added another punctuation point to her remarkable career by earning gold in the pole vault with a program-record mark of 4.08m.
 
The momentum continued moments later as Maddie Quinn earned her second conference crown in the javelin, doing so in short order with a victorious mark of 44.82m.
 
The medal count poured on as Kaitlyn Vanderkolk lapped the field in the 10,000m run. Her second straight MVC title came in a staggering record-breaking time of 34:26.31.

In fact, with teammate Carter Cheeseman's victory in the men's 10,000m, Belmont became the first school since 1994 to win both the men's and women's 10,000m races at the MVC Outdoor Championships.
 
Among other notable finishes, Emma García Palencia won the heptathlon shot put in a personal-best standard of 12.64m. Michella Diebenow also cruised to the 400m hurdles final with a time of 1:01.19 while Rachel Soukup likewise advanced easily to the 1500m final with a time of 4:30.94.

A complete list of Belmont student-athletes who competed on Friday with overall finishes can be found below.

Friday, May 10
10,000m
Kaitlyn Vanderkolk -- 1st -- 34:26.31
Clara Crain – 12^th – 37:18.63

Javelin Throw 
Madelyn Quinn – 1^st – 44.82m
Emma García Palencia – 6^th – 40.70m
Kate Briscoe – 12^th – 36.13m
Maggie Swarr – 13^th – 36.00m

Pole Vault
Tyra Finkeldey – 1^st – 4.08m
Nicola van der Merwe – 10^th – 3.48m
Caleigh Furyk – 13^th – 3.18m

Hammer Throw
Rebekah Stucker – 3rd – 57.01m
Logan Gray -- 6th – 53.08m
Sabrina Oostburg – 7^th – 49.29m

200m preliminaries 
Emory Moore – 17^th – 25.23

1500m preliminaries 
Rachel Soukup – 5^th – 4:30.94
Brooke Stromsland -- 13th -- 4:32.66

Heptathlon
Emma García Palencia – 6^th
Carlota Salgado Garcia – 13^th
Ireland Crowther – 18^th

Follow Belmont women's track and field on social media - @BelmontXCTF on Twitter, @belmontxctf and @belmontthrows on Instagram and @BUXCTF on Facebook - for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.