The women’s track team finished in fourth place at the Cincinnati Outdoor Invite, its second meet of the outdoor season. At University of Cincinnati on Saturday, the distance runners, having sat out of the first outdoor meet, joined the rest of their. Taking the win in one event and coming in close in others, the Chargers competed hard against Division I teams.
Freshmen Carmen Botha and Callie Townsend continue to set themselves apart, finishing second and third respectively in the 400 hurdles, accomplishing personal bests. Botha said while the wind may have affected their 100 hurdles, it didn’t hinder a decided victory in the 400 hurdles.
“There was one girl that goes to Miami in Ohio and we were kind of worried about her, and then we ended up beating her so that was really cool,” she said.
Botha said she would have liked to finished with an even better time.
“I had a bit of a slow start going out, so my first two hundreds bit was a bit slow, but it ended out really well,” Botha said. “I mean I had a really good race, solid, race, so I’m happy with it.”
With the opening season, and the change of events from indoor, distance athletes have more events to compete in. Senior team captain Andrea Bodary and Senior Emily Southgate both ran in the 10k, Southgate’s first outdoor meet of the season, and first ever race in the event.
“It’s a new event,” Southgate said. “And we didn’t approach it as a race, we just approached it as a workout, ending as a race. And I thought it went well for that.”
She said that she got out of the race what she needed to. Though competing with Division I athletes, she said only about nine athletes competed in the event and she didn’t have trepidation about the race.
As a distance runner, Southgate doesn’t race as often as her teammates in other events. The 10k, an outdoor-only event, takes more time to train for and recover from. Southgate said she would only race the event twice this season.
Senior legacy team captain Rachael Tolsma took third in the hammer throw. Switching from weight throw to hammer has been an adjustment with a difference in technique, Tolsma said.
“For me, outdoors is a whole different animal,” she said about transitioning from the indoor track season. “Really only shot put is the same.”
She said that between the first meet and Saturday’s, they’ve shifted technique, with better results.
Even when some members of the team didn’t reach their goals, Southgate said she’s excited about the team’s progress after seeing them compete well in Cincinnati.
