Rockets finish last at MAC Indoor Championships

IC File Photo

Senior sprints runner Akili Barnes hurdles her way through a race during UT’s 2014-2015 season. Barnes looks to continue to dominate the track in 2016.

The University of Toledo women’s track and field team closed out the indoor season with a 12th-place finish at the two-day Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships held at the University of Akron.

At the end of Day One, Toledo sat in eighth place with a total team score of nine.

“I thought it was good, especially for the younger girls,” said head coach Linh Nguyen. “It was really good for the future of the program.”

Three Rockets finished the event with personal bests.

Freshman Jennifer Lichter ran 16:51.50 in the 500m to give her a sixth-place finish, exceeding her personal best by 12 seconds.

Freshman Christina Johnson ran a personal best in the 200m with a time of 25:79, while freshman Katie Dewey threw a personal record with a 15.86m toss in the weight throw.

Including the distance medley relay and Lichter’s sixth-place finish, Toledo had four top-ten finishes on day one. The distance medley relay team consisted of Junior Theresa Warsecke, Freshman Nautica Hill and seniors Julia Pusateri and Liz Weiler. The quartet finished fourth with a time of 11:36.77.

Following Lichter in the 500m was sophomore Joan Jepkirui with a 17:04.31 eighth-place finish and Senior Brooke Tullis with a 17:08.74 ninth-place finish.

Akron took Day One with a team score of 38. Eastern Michigan and Kent State stayed behind in second and third with 37 and 34 points.

Two Rockets finished with strong performances but it proved to be too little, too late.

“Nobody likes to be at the bottom,” Nguyen said. “I think we were capable of doing better so it’s a little disappointing.”

Senior Kyesha Neal took home seventh in shot put with a throw of 14.70m, while senior Priscilla Timmons took eighth in the 300m run with a time of 9:53.78.

Timmons was not the only Rocket to finish within the top ten in the 300m. Sophomore Stephanie Barlow landed her personal best in the 300m with a 9:56.30 10th-place finish.

Tying a season-best in the high jump, Junior Madeline Pacella finished ninth with a 1.69m jump.

Pusateri and Weiler notched eighth and 10th place finishes in the mile run with times of 4:56.50 and 4:59.25, respectively.

Toledo finished the competition standing in 12th position with a team score of 13 points. Eastern Michigan took the event with 127 team points.

The Rockets were without some major point-scorers for the tournament including sophomore Janelle Noe, who fell victim to an off-campus assault that left her severely burned in late January.

UT will begin the outdoor season at the Wake Forest Open in Winston-Salem, NC on March 18. The Rockets will later return home to host the Toledo Invitational in May.

“We’re built more for an outdoor season,” Nguyen said. “Especially with our distance runners.”