The women?s track team proved once again that it is a team of great depth by gaining four first-place finishes and placing six runners in the top three in individual events at the Hamilton Invitational this past weekend.
The meet was non-scoring, so the athletes can focus on the championships that start next weekend.
Among the four first-place finishes was a record-setting performance by sophomore Erin Bank. She broke the UR pole vault record by a foot with a first-place jump of 9 feet 4.8 inches.
Her vault also broke the record for any athlete at the Hamilton track by more than two feet.
Junior Robin Metcalf finished in third place with a vault of 8 feet 4.9 inches.
?[Bank and Metcalf] are two great athletes as well as two great friends. At practice they are always pushing each other, I won?t be surprised to see [the school record] broken again,? coach Barbara Hartwig said.
Senior Stephanie Perry made her presence known by winning first-place in the javelin. Hartwig said her throw of 111 feet 8 inches puts her in good contention for the gold at the New York State Conference Track Championships in two weeks.
The other two first-place finishes came courtesy of sophomore Liz Conway. She tallied two top finishes in the 100-meter high hurdle and the 400-meter intermediate hurdle races.
?Liz had two outstanding races. In the hurdle events, good weather is always a key to success and Liz really took advantage of it,? Hartwig said.
Another impressive performance noted by Hartwig came from freshman Lisa Brassaw in the 800-meter run. She turned in a tenth-place finish and ran the team?s best time this season ? 2:26.
The 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relay teams took one second and four seconds off their season best times respectively.
Junior Megan Sullivan placed second in the hammer throw with a distance of 126 feet 6 inches.
Junior Amanda Danforth ran a time of 10:55 to earn a third-place finish in the 3,000-meter run.
Freshman Michelle Gabrielle also turned in an impressive time of 1:03 in the 400-meter dash gaining a second-place finish.
UR travels to the Cornell Invitational this Sunday to fine-tune its skills before heading to the NYSCTC May 4 and 5.
Instead of going to Cornell, Perry will travel to Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute to compete in the NYSCTC Heptathlon.
?The Heptathlon will be a great chance for Steph to show her skills ? she has a great chance at scoring well,? Hartwig said.
