The Waynesburg University women’s indoor track and field team spent the weekend in Geneva, Ohio, competing in a highly competitive meet in Spire Midwest Track & Field Open.

The meet was highlighted by several strong performances.

The Jackets’ top performer was Aubrey Wingeart, who completed an impressive double in the mile and 3,000-meter run. Wingeart crossed the finish line of the mile in a time of 5:15, earning her seventh place.

“Aubrey ran 14 seconds faster than her time in the mile from a week ago, which is a huge jump in just a week,” said assistant coach Kristen Stone, who is leading the distance team in the absence of head coach Michelle Cross, who is on maternity leave

 A few hours after completing the mile, Wingeart competed in the 3,000-meter, finishing in 10:39, and earning 14th place.

As usual, a few other distance runners had standout performances over the weekend. 

In the mile, Becca Volz crossed the line in 5:44, which placed her just outside of the top 40 in the field. 

In the other 3,000m race, Gloria Reed led the way with a sixth-place finish. She completed the race in 11:17. Reed was followed closely by teammate Nicole Shelton. Shelton finished in 11:21, good for seventh-place. 

The distance team is now gearing up for the remainder of the short indoor season.

 

“We are starting the transition from the base phase to a more speed-oriented phase this week,” Stone said. “We had many of our runners peaking a week or so too early last year, so we added two more weeks of base building before really getting into faster workouts.” 

Outside of the distance squad, the team had a few other bright spots at the meet. 

In the 400m dash, Mary Beth Cunningham led the way for the team, running the race in 1:06. That performance was followed closely behind by freshman Maggie Stains, who finished the event in 1:07. 

In the field, Katherine Henderson stood out for the Jackets. Henderson competed in three events, and performed well in all of them, placing 14th in the triple jump, 17th in high jump, and 22nd in the long jump.

Another strong performance in the field events came from Emma Haag, who led the team in the shot put and weight throw. Haag placed 19th and 28th in her events, respectively. 

The women’s team will be heading to Youngstown, Ohio,  Feb. 1 for its next competition.