The Waynesburg University women’s track & field team traveled to Alliance, Ohio, this past Saturday to compete in the Jim Wuske Invitational, an annual invite that is hosted by the University of Mount Union.

Although team scores weren’t calculated for the event, The Yellow Jackets had a productive day as they had several competitors produce noteworthy efforts.

The Distance Medley Relay (DMR) team consisting of freshman Becca Volz, sophomore Kathryn Thompson and seniors Ellie Loch and Angie Marchetti set a new facility record. According to head coach Michelle Cross, however, this wasn’t the main objective going into the meet.

“The intention for that DMR was actually to try and figure out what our four-by-four and DMR will look like for [the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships],” said Cross. “We did put effort in to making it a better team, but I didn’t realize how good they were until they started, so that’s always exciting when you get to steal a record from a facility.”

The DMR team gives the Jackets hope not only because it is a good mix of upperclassmen and underclassmen, but it features the return of sophomore Kathryn Thompson, who has been hampered by injury since the cross country season in the fall.

“She seems like she is starting to feel better, but we were hoping that the longer break would sort of help her recover,” said Cross.

The DMR wasn’t the only event where the underclassmen excelled. Sophomore Jordan Simpson paced her team in the throwing events, placing ninth in shot put with a throw of 10.19 meters.

“She’s been forming really well,” Cross said. “She placed in the top 10 at the meet, which is huge because that was a big meet, and there were a lot of our conference teams there, so it was good to see her do so well.”

The adaptation to new assistant coach Tim Barnes and his methods have been acknowledged by Cross as one of the keys to Simpson’s success.

“That speaks a lot to [Barnes],” Cross said. “He’s just all around done an excellent job with the throwers. He really knows his technique and so the changes he’s made has really just helped them to improve.”

In the jumps, freshman Amber Yauch placed in the top 15 of both her events.

Yauch placed eighth in the long jump with a distance of 4.87 meters, which is her season best, and 12th in the triple jump with a distance of 9.43 meters.

“This week in particular in the long jump, she did particularly well,” Cross said. “She has shown a lot of maturity because any time you put pressure on freshmen there is always the question of how are they going to handle the pressure. She is focused and knows what she wants, and I have been impressed with her game day performances.”

Other notable performances came on the track with junior Teghan Simonton, who placed ninth in the 1,000-meter and 3,000-meter respectively. Senior Julie Gerber paced all PAC runners in the mile at 5:35 and sophomore Taylor Clarkson placed seventh in the 400-meter and sixth in the high jump.

Cross has also been impressed with the perseverance of the team working through a coaching change.

“I think in a lot of ways this has caused a lot of personal leadership growth on the team that maybe wouldn’t have occurred if they hadn’t gone through that transition,” said Cross. “I’ve seen several individuals step forward and grow more than they have any other year, and I think that hinges back on the fact that they had to handle adversity.”

Waynesburg is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 17, when it travels to the Kenyon College Classic. Start time is scheduled for noon.