The Waynesburg women’s indoor track & field team competed at the Kenyon College Classic this past weekend. The meet was the women’s last chance to get a seed time or distance before the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championship, which takes place Feb. 21 at Youngstown State University.

The team was led by standout performances coming from a young group of distance runners.

Freshman Aubrey Wingeart ran two events, winning both. Wingeart won the mile in a time of 5:33 and the 3,000-meter run in a time of 10:37.1. She won both races by less than one second.

“It was nice because we had Aubrey snag the top seed in the 3,000-meter for PAC’s,” said head coach Michelle Cross. “When we had discussed the races before, Aubrey said her goal was to drop her time in the 3,000. So, we decided to have her take the lead from the start and see if she could get the time and a win.”

Wingeart did just that. Her win in the mile wasn’t her main focus of the day, as she was using that race to get prepared to run the 3,000-meter.

“My main focus was to try and get a better time for PAC’s.” said Wingeart. “I thought I was going to get out-kicked in the 3,000, so it was nice to be able to hold on and win; kicking is definitely my weakness.”

Following Wingeart’s lead, a group of young distance runners stepped up, with freshman Gloria Reed and sophomore Nicole Shelton taking third and fourth in the 5,000-meter run, respectively.

Another athlete who was tested on Saturday was sophomore Katherine Fair.

Fair was able to win the 60-meter hurdles race. Fair also participated in the 200-meter dash for the first time.

“She had a good initial performance in that race,” said Cross. “We might put her in it more during outdoor season to strengthen our sprinting group.”

Junior thrower Jordan Simpson also had a strong showing with a fourth-place finish in the shot put.

Simpson had to step up, according to Cross, now that she is the top thrower on the team. She Is looking to gain points in throwing events with the loss of Addy Knetzer, who was the team’s top thrower for the past few seasons and graduated in 2018.

“Jordan really stepped it up with her lifting routine this fall, and it’s starting to show with the results she is getting,” said Cross.

One of the team’s weak spots is the sprinting group, according to Cross. Seeing junior Mary-Beth Cunningham earn a new personal best in the 400-meter dash was encouraging, Cross said. Cunningham ran a 1:06.14, which was almost two and a half seconds faster than her personal best.

A few notable members of the team weren’t able to participate at the meet. Distance runners sophomore Gianna Pugliano and junior Kathryn Thompson weren’t at Kenyon. The team’s top jumper, sophomore Amber Yauch, was unable to attend because of a family event.

“I would have liked to see Amber compete because I think she could have improved her distances before PAC’s,” said Cross.

The team will try to defend their indoor PAC titles today before turning their focus to a long outdoor track season.