For the first time in two years, the Waynesburg indoor track and field teams returned to the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Indoor Championships.

Ahead of the competition, the women’s team was projected to finish fourth, while the men’s team was slated to finish seventh.

The women’s team performed up to the conference’s expectation with a fourth-place team finish through 85 team points. The men’s team fared slightly worse than the projections with an eighth-place spot, only scoring 22 team points.

“I am so proud of this team, because the PAC has so much competition,” Waynesburg standout Michaela Rose said. “I think we have a lot to be proud of and I think heading into outdoor, we will be a team to watch.”

According to the coaches’ poll on Tuesday afternoon, both Geneva teams were the favorite to win the conference championship. The Westminster Titans took the title in the men’s side, while Grove City walked away with the women’s team championship.

The Waynesburg women’s team was primarily led in scoring from the quartet of Rose, Kat Henderson, Aubrey Wingeart and Rebecca Dolce.

Henderson dominated the field events finishing first in long jump, second in high jump and sixth in triple jump. Henderson’s first place finish in the long jump stood out in her eyes.

“I’m proud of myself in long jump,” Henderson said. “It just carried my mood the whole meet.”

She also picked up PAC Field MVP honors on the way to her spectacular finish in all of her events.

“I knew I maybe could’ve gotten [MVP],” Henderson said. “I was really shocked.”

Wingeart joined the team for the indoor championships and had a day full of standing on the podium. She ran her way up there multiple times with a runner-up performance in the 3000 and 5000 meter-run and a fourth-place finish in the mile.

Wingeart and Franciscan’s Alison Bryant shared a moment together in breaking the old PAC record in the 3000-meter run. Bryant obliterated the past record, beating it by almost 10 seconds. Wingeart blazed by the old record by finishing five seconds ahead of it.

Speaking of blazing fast speed, transfer Michaela Rose showed a lot of it on display. Rose sprinted her way to second place performances in the 60 and 200 meter-dash.

“I wasn’t the happiest with how I performed today, but I definitely thought the competition was insane this year,” Rose said. “I’m happy to walk away knowing I ran my best and all my competitors pushed me. Overall, I can’t complain.”

In Dolce’s debut, she led all of Waynesburg’s throwers with a bronze finish in the weight throw and fourth-place finish in the shot put.

Other scorers for Waynesburg’s women’s team include: Ivy Allen tying for second in the high jump with Henderson, Gabrielle Reifsnyder crossing the finish line seventh in the 5000 meter-run, Audrey Doby finishing eighth in the high jump, the 4×400 and distance medley relay teams.

A plethora of other members of the women’s team also contributed to the team’s score as they scored in 12 out of the 16 scored events. On the men’s side, they received points in six of the 16 scored events.

“Jumping” Josh Derricott and Kai Herbert scored the most points for the Yellow Jackets in a single event, with six. Derricott leaped to a bronze finish in the high jump. Herbert placed third in the 60-meter hurdles.

Other scorers for the men’s team include: Garrett Hillard with a fifth-place finish in the shot put, Luke Whisel, seventh, and Andrew Kasper, eighth, in the 5000 meter-run, the 4×400 and distance medley relay teams.

The outdoor track and field seasons will start for both teams after spring break. Both team’s schedules have yet to be posted on Waynesburgsports.com.

“I’m so looking forward to outdoor,” Rose said. “I think a lot of people are looking forward to it.”