Final Results  |  Meet Video  |  Photo Galleries

MANSFIELD, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's track and field team earned runner-up honors Saturday after the third and final day of competition at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships from Mansfield University.
 
Shippensburg continued its streak of championships to win the title with 177 points. Slippery Rock earned the second place trophy with 113 points. Millersville finished third with 98 points, followed by California (Pa.) with 80 and Bloomsburg with 59 to round out the top five in the team standings. All 16 PSAC teams recorded at least 3.5 points in the team competition.
 
The Rock won six event titles and had a seventh taken away on the final event after the 4x400-meter relay team cruised to a win behind the anchor leg of Jasmine Bailey. After the results were posted, a protest determined that an SRU runner stepped out of their lane on one of the curves and the title was taken away, negating a 3:53 performance from Bailey, Kennedy Evans, Sabrina Anderson and Aerial Dukes.
 
The highlight of the day Saturday belonged to Sam Taylor, who repeated as champion in the javelin and kept her unbeaten season alive. She needed a career-best effort to do it after Shippensburg thrower Morgan DeFloria posted a huge personal best and NCAA automatic qualifier on her first throw of the meet at 48.90 meters, a mark better than Taylor has ever thrown. She responded on the next round by hitting her own NCAA automatic mark with the sixth best throw in the nation of 49.63 meters. The javelin ended up being the most loaded field in the meet as all eight placewinners recorded at least an NCAA provisional mark.
 
Slippery Rock also got a repeat title Saturday from Kaitlyn Clark in the pole vault. Clark claimed her fifth overall PSAC title in the vault with a clearance of 3.63 meters, an NCAA provisional mark. Conditions made vaulting difficult Saturday, which led to a lower winning height than anticipated. Clark already has an NCAA automatic clearance of 4.00 meters this year. Maria Darling also placed in the pole vault with a sixth place finish and a clearance of 3.38 meters.
 
The 4x100-meter relay of Evans, Bailey, Jaiah Williams and Katelyn Wetzel opened the track competition Saturday by securing a win in 47.16 seconds.
 
Bailey completed the season sweep of 400-meter titles after winning the indoor crown back in February. She topped the field for her first outdoor 400m title with a time of 57.04 seconds. Dukes was eighth in the finals in 59.75 seconds to give SRU 11 points in the event.
 
Bailey came back later in the day to place second in the 200-meter dash in 24.84 seconds to score eight more points. Williams was sixth in 25.46 seconds as SRU picked up a total of 11 points in the 200m as well. In total Bailey had two event wins (400m, 4x100m), had one win taken away (4x400m) and had one runner-up honor (200m) over the weekend.
 
The other two event titles for Slippery Rock happened Friday with Paige Kassab winning the high jump and Anderson winning the heptathlon.
 
Evans picked up a third place finish Saturday in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.44, just off the NCAA provisional mark. Sophie Mazza gave SRU two scorers in the hurdle competitions with a fifth place showing in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.82 seconds.
 
Wetzel scored in the 100-meter dash with a fifth place finish in 12.55 seconds, marking her fourth career top eight placing in the 100-meter dash at the outdoor PSAC meet.
 
The Rock got a strong showing from their mid-distance squad with a third place finish in the 4x800-meter relay. Melissa Rains, Alexis Swiergol, Angelica Bagwell and Caitlyn Janeda teamed up to run a season-best 9:32.16.
 
Rains also scored for SRU Saturday with an eighth place finish in the 1,500-meter run, crossing the line in 4:41.11.
 
The final point on the track Saturday came from Jenny Picot with an eighth place finish in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 17:42.64. Picot also finished third for SRU in the 10,000-meter run Thursday night to open the meet.
 
Saturday's competition marked the end of the season for most of the Slippery Rock team, while select athletes with NCAA provisional marks will now wait to see if they earn a spot in the NCAA Division II National Championship meet, which will take place in two weeks in Bradenton, Florida.
 
SRU has six women with an NCAA mark this season, including two that are guaranteed a spot in the national field in Clark (pole vault) and Taylor (javelin), thanks to their automatic marks. They are both currently ranked sixth in the nation. Anderson (heptathlon) is ranked 13th and could be in a good position to earn a spot in the field. Kassab (high jump) is currently ranked 15th and could also be in a good spot to earn an entry into the field. Picot (5,000m) is currently 20th and likely near the bubble and Evans (400m hurdles) is currently 25th and could be on the wrong side of the cutoff.
 
The national qualifiers will be announced within the next week.
 
 
SRU PLACEWINNERS – PSAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
 
100-Meter Dash
5. Katelyn Wetzel – 12.55
 
200-Meter Dash
2. Jasmine Bailey – 24.84
6. Jaiah Williams – 25.46
 
400-Meter Dash
1. Jasmine Bailey – 57.04
8. Aerial Dukes – 59.75
 
1,500-Meter Run
8. Melissa Rains – 4:41.11
 
5,000-Meter Run
8. Jenny Picot – 17:42.64
 
10,000-Meter Run
3. Jenny Picot – 38:08.59
5. Shannon Byerly – 38:11.98
 
100-Meter Hurdles
5. Sophie Mazza – 14.82
 
400-Meter Hurdles
3. Kennedy Evans – 1:02.44
 
4x100-Meter Relay
1. Slippery Rock – 47.16
Kennedy Evans, Jasmine Bailey, Jaiah Williams, Katelyn Wetzel
 
4x400-Meter Relay
1. Slippery Rock – 3:53.02 (DQ'd after race for lane violation)
Kennedy Evans, Aerial Dukes, Sabrina Anderson, Jasmine Bailey
 
4x800-Meter Relay
3. Slippery Rock – 9:32.16
Melissa Rains, Alexis Swiergol, Angelica Bagwell, Caitlyn Janeda
 
High Jump
1. Paige Kassab – 1.69m (NCAA provisional)
4. Ashley West – 1.66m
 
Pole Vault
1. Kaitlyn Clark – 3.63m (NCAA provisional)
6. Maria Darling – 3.38m
 
Shot Put
7. Anna Frengel – 12.70m
 
Javelin
1. Sam Taylor – 49.63m (NCAA automatic)
 
Heptathlon
1. Sabrina Anderson – 4,951 points (NCAA provisional)