Women's track & field looks for exposure
Chris McCarty
Ten of the athletes joined Head Coach Kathleen Raske at the Texas Relays in Austin, and the rest of the team participated in South Bend, Ind., for the Notre Dame Open.
“I think in Texas we gained some great exposure for our program,” Raske said. “A lot of these major conference teams hadn’t ever seen our program, but now they know what we’re about.”
In Texas, senior high-jumper Suzy Bozin finished third in the high jump and provisionally qualified for nationals with a leap of 5 feet 10 inches.
Senior Maria Derezinski also provisionally qualified with her fifth-place finish in the heptathlon competition.
Senior Kari Karhoff finished sixth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 59.88 seconds. She also was a part of the 1600m sprint medley team, which set a school record with a time of 3:59.03 and finished ninth.
Sophomore Amanda Storck finished sixth in the pole vault. Her height of 11-feet 11-and-three-quarters-inches was a quarter of an inch away from another school record.
“(This meet) was a great stepping stone to prepare us for the tougher meets that we will have later on in the season,” Raske said. “We’re preparing for a peak that we will hope to attain at the end of the season.”
As for the Notre Dame meet, Central brought home seven first-place finishes. Sophomore Karen LeRoy set a school record in the steeplechase with a time of 11:13.49.
Freshman Katie Davis won the shot put event with a throw of 43-1/2 and also earned second place in the discus with a mark of 120-feet 5-inches.
Also taking home first-place honors were seniors Brook Creed and Abby Jaroscak in the 3,000m and 100m hurdles, respectively, junior Kelli Kirchofer in the high jump, senior Jane Ludtke in the discus and sophomore Tasha Reynolds in the javelin.
The Chippewas will compete at the University of Indiana Saturday for a USTCA Quad meet.
