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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's track & field team sits in first place in the team standings after Sunday's opening day of competition at the 2024 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Indoor Championships from Lehigh University's Rauch Fieldhouse.
 
The Rock women tallied 59 points over the six event finals that were contested Sunday, jumping out to a 23.5-point lead over East Stroudsburg in second with 35.5 points. Millersville sits third with 35 points, followed by Seton Hill in fourth with 30 points and Shippensburg in fifth with 27.5 points. A total of 11 teams picked up points on Sunday.
 
Slippery Rock's strong opening day gives the program a 31.5-point lead over defending champion Shippensburg, which is expected to make a push for the title Monday. While the Raiders only tallied 27.5 points on the first day of action, they had a strong day in the preliminary rounds for the sprints and are expected to score well Monday. The team race is likely to be decided between The Rock and the Raiders and it could take until late in the day Monday before a team can claim the 2024 title.
 
Slippery Rock scored in all six event finals, won three events, had nine All-PSAC honorees and qualified at least one athlete for the finals in every preliminary event that was contested Sunday to highlight an all-around exceptional day by the team.
 
The headliner on the track on the opening day of action was distance standout Anna Igims, who raced just over four miles and ran more than 30 laps on the way to a pair of titles in the distance medley relay and the 5,000-meter run. She opened the day by teaming with Jennifer Cichra, Rachel Veneziano and Madison Murtland to lead wire-to-wire on the way to winning the DMR in 12:19.93. Cichra jumped out to a big lead on the 1,200-meter leg and Veneziano (400m) and Murtland (800m) were never challenged before handing off to Igims, who shut it down with a lap to go and cruised to the win.
 
Igims came back later in the day and ran away from the field to win the 5,000-meter run with a career-best time of 17:34.88 to lead The Rock to a total of 20 points in the event. Katie Plassio picked up All-PSAC honors in third place in 18:10 and Ruthie Hughes tallied four points in fifth place in 18:15 to cap a 30-point day by the SRU distance squad.
 
The headliner in the field on Sunday was pole vaulter Kendall Grossman, who left no doubt about who the top vaulter in the league is when she cleared a career-best height of 3.97 meters (13' 0.25") to win her second straight PSAC indoor title. That mark moves her up to No. 12 on the Division II national list this winter and is the first time in her career she has been over the 13-foot barrier.
 
Slippery Rock also got All-PSAC finishes Sunday in both the long jump and the weight throw and nearly had an All-PSAC honoree in the pentathlon.
 
Tiffany Jolayemi started the day on a positive note when she earned All-PSAC honors in the weight throw during the first event final of the meet. Her toss of 15.99 meters marked a season-best and moved her up one spot from her seeding entering the meet.
 
Aleks Brozeski came through in a big way late in the meet with SRU looking like it would fall short of its projection in the long jump. Sitting seventh going into her final attempt, Brozeski unloaded a season-best of 5.50 meters on her last attempt to vault her all the way up to third place and earn her an All-PSAC finish. She entered the competition seeded last at No. 18 after just sneaking into the field by hitting a qualifying mark last week. She was joined in scoring by freshman Cassidy Davis, who took eighth in her PSAC debut with a leap of 5.41 meters.
 
The final points for SRU Sunday came from Lydia Latimer and Maddy Miller in the pentathlon. Latimer, making her collegiate track & field debut this season after a four-year Division I volleyball career at Cleveland State, finished in fourth place over the five events of the pentathlon with a score of 3,333 points. She was just two points shy of an All-PSAC finish, which was even more impressive considering she also ran the 400-meter dash prelims while doing the pentathlon Sunday and managed to qualify for Monday's event final in that event as well. Miller took eighth with a score of 3,069 points.
 
The rest of Sunday's action featured preliminary rounds on the track to set up Monday finals. The Rock qualified at least one runner for the finals in every preliminary round Sunday.
 
Samantha Gilbert and Regan Johnson both earned spots in the finals of the 60-meter dash with Gilbert clocking the No. 5 time in the prelims at 7.71 seconds and Johnson posting the No. 7 time in 7.75 seconds. Gilbert then closed her day by also locking up a spot in the 200-meter dash final with the No. 7 time of 25.89 seconds.
 
Latimer briefly shifted focus from the pentathlon to post the No. 8 qualifying time in the 400-meter dash prelims in 1:00.28.
 
The Rock's final qualifier of the day was Chalondra Clarke, who earned a spot in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles with the No. 8 qualifying time of 9.28 seconds.
 
The remaining 11 event finals will be contested Monday with competition set to begin with the high jump at 11:30 a.m. The final event of the meet is expected to take place around 3:50 p.m. Live video will be available HERE and live results will be available HERE.
 
SRU RESULTS – PSAC CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY 1
 
5,000-METER RUN FINAL
1. Anna Igims – 17:34.88 (10 points, All-PSAC)
3. Katie Plassio – 18:10.83 (6 points, All-PSAC)
5. Ruthie Hughes – 18:15.51 (4 points)
 
DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY FINAL – 12:19.93 (10 points, All-PSAC)
1. Jennifer Cichra, Rachel Veneziano, Madison Murtland, Anna Igims
 
POLE VAULT FINAL
1. Kendall Grossman – 3.97m (10 points, NCAA provisional, All-PSAC)
10. Grace Parrett – 3.28m
11. Allie Taylor – 3.28m
 
LONG JUMP FINAL
3. Aleks Brozeski – 5.50m (6 points, All-PSAC)
8. Cassidy Davis – 5.41m (1 point)
16. Baylee Blauser – 5.08m
18. Samantha Gilbert – 4.80m
 
WEIGHT THROW FINAL
3. Tiffany Jolayemi – 15.99m (6 points, All-PSAC)
13. Savannah Schneck – 13.82m
 
PENTATHLON FINAL
4. Lydia Latimer – 3,333 points (5 points)
8. Maddy Miller – 3,069 points (1 point)
12. Leighanne Swan – 2,843 points
13. Lorna Speigle – 2,795 points
 
60-METER DASH PRELIMS
5. Samantha Gilbert – 7.71 (qualified for finals)
7. Regan Johnson – 7.75 (qualified for finals)
 
200-METER DASH PRELIMS
7. Samantha Gilbert – 25.89 (qualified for finals)
11. Regan Johnson – 26.10
 
400-METER DASH PRELIMS
8. Lydia Latimer – 1:00.28 (qualified for finals)
 
60-METER HURDLE PRELIMS
8. Chalondra Clarke – 9.28 (qualified for finals)
DQ – Chaley Younkin
 
 

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