The women’s track and field team won seven titles, set four meet records, and scored three provisional marks to increase its NCAA Division II rankings at Lee University in Tennessee as they kicked off the outdoor season last weekend. 

Though strong winds made it a challenging meet, the team had many impressive performances, senior All-American Josee Hackman said. 

Sophomore Tara Townsend, who placed first in the pole vault, scored a provisional mark of eight in NCAA DII after the weekend.

“From indoor to outdoor season everybody is ready to compete whenever possible,” Townsend said. 

Junior Lucy Minning, who ran the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes at the invitational, placed fourth out of 64. She said the weather played a factor in her race as it had with many others. 

“I had a nice tailwind for the 100 meter. It helped me,” she said. “But, it definitely negatively affected the other races.” 

With the strong performances across the board over the weekend, the team has been looking forward to the outdoor season, Minning said.

Since the close of the indoor season, the team has been preparing for their next goal of conference championships in May. The transition between seasons has helped the team focus. 

“It has been a pretty smooth transition. I prefer the outdoor season, so I have been looking forward to it,” Minning said. 

Coming off the recent Division II indoor championships, the team is continuing to focus on their goals for the outdoor season, Townsend said. 

“I think every championship we’re expected to win it all,” she said, “I fully expect us to win every time.”  

Hackman agreed that the expectations for the team were always high, especially for the outdoor season. 

“We hold ourselves to a high standard and our competitors do too,” she said. 

Townsend added that the excitement of the outdoor season comes with the unexpected weather challenges.

“Outdoor is the real season, it’s a lot more fun,” she said. “You never know what the weather is gonna be like so it’s always exciting to see how you can deal with what’s thrown at you.”

Although the Chargers set a good tone for their opener, Lee University is known to be a slower track for all teams, Hackman said. 

Hackman, who placed third in the 400, said she was happy with how the race went. 

“I am happy with how I executed the race, although the race was slower for all the runners,” she said.