The Waynesburg women’s outdoor track and field team traveled to Morgantown, WV on Thursday and Friday to compete in the 2023-24 PAC Championships at the Track & Field Complex at Mylan Park.

Sophomore Grace Tanksley finished in fourth place in the 10K run with a time of 39:37.82. Tanksley’s run was also the fifth fastest time in program history.

Tanksley was excited to see an improvement from last year and says that the best part was to run alongside senior Gabi Reifsnyder one last time.

“I am also really excited to be among the top five in the program’s history as the women who have run those times are very talented, but I think the best part of Thursday was running one last time with my teammate, Gabi Reifsnyder,” Tanksley said. “She has been an inspiration and is one of the reasons I was able to accomplish so much during the 10K.”

Freshman Ella Rishell also put her name into the program record books finishing fifth in the 200 meter with a time of 26.38. That run is the sixth fastest time in program history. Rishell also finished seventh in triple jump and finished in 11th place in the long jump.

Rishell was excited to compete in the PAC Championships and made sure that she was mentally ready for the biggest meet of the season.

“I did a lot of fine tuning during my preparation in order to fix some of the smaller details that could be easily adjusted, ” Rishell said. “Mentally I focused a lot on praying and self-care, just really trying to fall in sync with what God had planned for me. A lot of music was listened to during travel and warm-ups just keep the good vibes and energy up, and not let the nervousness take over.”

Rishell also explains her excitement level heading into her sophomore season and what was the biggest thing she learned this season.

“Heading into my sophomore season I plan to approach it with confidence,” Rishell said. “I have such a loving family of teammates that have supported me through it all, I’m hoping next year I can become at least half the teammate they are.”

Junior Meg Barry placed fourth in javelin with a throw of 37.10 meters and freshman Natalie Double finished in sixth place in javelin with a throw of 35.41 meters.

Sophomore Reagan Pettis finished in ninth place in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 12:41.62 and sophomore Maeve Hanley placed 10th in the high jump reaching 1.43 meters.

Waynesburg scored in four different events to give them 19 points in the meet, tying them for ninth place of the 11 PAC teams.

The women’s track and field team’s next match is the West Virginia University Last Chance meet on May 4th back at Mylan Park in Morgantown, WV.