Women's track team achieves 11 first-place finishes at Jack Skoog Open
Patrick SillerWith a full crowd watching at the Jack Skoog Open on Friday, the CMU women's track team took 11 first-place finishes out of 13 events.
Sophomore Shanaye Carr led the way, winning the 60-meter hurdles with a new personal-best time of 8.70 seconds, besting her previous of 8.71. Freshman Ashley Esparza won the pole vault with a new personal-best jump of 3.49m.
"A lot of the girls on the team have to feel really good about their performances on Friday," said middle distance runner junior Erin Dillon. "We competed really well."
The Chippewas took first through fourth in the long jump.
Freshman jumper Katie McColly won the event with a jump of 5.59m, also a new personal best.
Junior Erika Schroll won the high jump for the fourth time this season with a five-foot, seven-inch effort, less than her season best of 5-9.25.
"I think it really helped that this was a home meet," Schroll said. "It gets my adrenaline pumping and makes me want to jump just that little bit higher."
Sophomore jumper Aleisha Leeper won the triple jump by a large margin with a jump of 11.41m. The Chippewas had another one-two finish in the 60m dash as sophomore sprinter Jordan Dunn took first place with a time of 7.73 seconds.
Sophomore teammate Brittnee Shreve finished second behind Dunn with a time of 7.81.
Another one-two finish for the Chippewas came in the one-mile run, where sophomore distance runner Danielle Dakroub took first with a time of 5:08.80. Sophomore Kylee Kubacki finished in second behind Dakroub with a time of 5:11.
Junior distance runner Sarah Squires was on pace to beat her personal best time of 4:59 before dropping out of the race on the second-to-last lap. She cheered on Dakroub andKubacki as they came around on the final lap.
"It was our plan to have Sarah run five or six laps and then drop out of the race," said coach Karen Lutzke. "We wanted her to lead the race and help Dakroub and Kubacki improve on their time."
Junior sprinter Cara Dukes took first place in the 200m dash with a time of 25.48, barely missing her personal best.
It was the final non-scoring meet of the season for CMU, which travels to Kent State for the Mid-American Conference Championships next weekend.
"The MAC meet is a huge meet and I think our team is ready to rise to the occasion," Schroll said. "Akron is the defending champs, and to be honest, it's going to be tough to get past them.
"Other teams underestimate us because we are so young, or maybe because we finished fourth last year," Schroll said. "But what they don't know is that we have a team of fierce competitors who have been improving every week leading up to the MAC Championships."
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