The Waynesburg University men and women’s outdoor track & field teams competed at the Bethany College Invitational last Saturday. There was a total of 14 teams competing, with some of the teams being Division II schools and the rest representing the NAIA.

“It was probably the largest competitive field so far this season in outdoor,” said head coach Michelle Cross. “So, it was nice to see how we stacked up against all of those [teams].”

The women’s team finished in fifth out of the 14 teams. There were a couple of sophomores who stood out according to Cross. Katherine Fair came in first place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:07.3 and also snagged an eighth place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 17 seconds. Amber Yauch took first in the triple jump with a jump of 10.1 meters and second in the long jump reaching a jump of 4.9 meters.

“Against a larger field it was nice to see a lot of our women scoring,” said Cross.

There were also a couple of juniors who finished well in their respected events, according to Cross.

Mary Beth Cunningham took eighth place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:03.2, while junior Jordan Simpson finished in second place in the javelin throw with a toss of 37.7 meters.

Senior Teghan Simonton placed fifth in the 800-meter with a time of 2:28.3 and freshman Aubrey Wingeart took seventh in that event with a time of 2:29.2. The women’s 4×400-meter relay team finished third with a time of 4:22.3.

“It was fun to see times starting to come down and I think probable where we saw it more than anything else was the 400,” said Cross.

On the men’s side, the Yellow Jackets came in eighth place overall out of the 14 teams. Freshman Silas Mays placed third overall after logging a time of 1:58.3 in the 800-meter dash. Freshman Micah Kurka finished eighth in the 800 as well with a time of 2:03.6. Sophomore Nate Jecelin took in seventh in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:16.8, while classmate Matt Durgin followed closely behind Jecelin, taking eighth with a time of 16:47.3.

Junior jumper Mike Trax took fourth in the long jump with a mark of 6.1 meters and fifth in the triple jump landing at 12.6 meters in that event. Junior Ryan VanTine finished in eighth in shot put with a throw of 13.1 meters.

Sophomore Roman Lessard placed second in the javelin with a throw of 50 meters. Lastly, Waynesburg received points from both its 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relay groups, which placed fourth and second, respectively. The 4×100 team had a time of 46.3 seconds and the 4×400 meter team had a time of 3:27.6.

“So, overall, I think that I kind of walked away with both teams thinking that in general that is was a very consistent meet,” said Cross. “Most people were just very consistent, and we are just in that time of the season where we are working pretty hard, but that work is also starting to pay off.”

Both teams will compete this weekend at the Dave Labor Invitational in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.