TOPEKA, Kan. – Jessica Haney and
Madison Meredith each claimed individual titles to highlight the Missouri State track and field team's final day here at the Washburn Open.
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Meredith made the most out of her first meet as a Bear, bagging the top spot in both the 60-meter dash (7.46) and 200-meter dash (24.45) for a sprints sweep. The Western Michigan transfer went on to run the closing leg of the MSU 4x400 meter relay team that finished eighth.
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After an excellent freshman campaign that featured a fourth-place finish at the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championship, Haney picked up right where she left off in the high jump. The sophomore from Lee's Summit, Mo. won her second career individual title in the event after clearing the bar at the 1.62-meter (5-03.75) mark on her first attempt. She finished top five in the high jump in five of the six meets she competed in last season, including a first-place showing at the Gorilla Classic (March 1, 2020).
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"Madison's openers in both sprint races were exceptional and to run a 60-meter personal best in her first meet of the year is just awesome," said head coach
Jordan Fife. "Jessica earned a tough fought win in the high jump to get the season started off right."
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Nakaja Weaver and
Calandra Henry joined Meredith in the sprints with Weaver recording the fifth-best time in the 60m (7.69) and finishing 11th in the 200m while Henry slotted in at 14th (7.81) and ninth (25.70), respectively.
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Talia Emerson sprinted to a 9.42 time in the 60-meter hurdles to open the afternoon session at the brand-new Washburn Indoor Athletic Facility. In the following race,
Mackenzie Ihasz (59.12) took third in the 400-meter dash to lead a Bears trio that also included
O'Shayla Muldrow (1:03.8) and
Emily Graham (1:11.5).
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The Bears placed another set of runners in the top five with
Sierra Williams (4th) and
Edna Dar (5th) going back-to-back in the mile. The duo ran on the fourth-place distance medley relay team yesterday.Â
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The other two members of the DMR team,
Ashley Rolewicz and
Taylor Holtz, represented the Bears in the 800-meter run. Rolewicz ran a personal-best time of 2:23.73 and finished seventh while Holtz (11th) clocked in at the 2:27.22 mark.
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The 3,000-meter run contained six runners from Fife's distance group as
Adyson Delaney (9th) and
Shelby Palmer (10th) paced the MSU pack by rounding out the event's top-10 spots. Next across the finish line for the Bears were
Alex Hamre (11:24.45) and
Natalie Clayton (11:29.59) followed by
Riley Lourens (11:47.47) and
Lillie Kaempfe (11:54.35). Â
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In MSU's other field event of the day,
Olivia Richards and
Blair Sebastian marked respective leaps of 10.39 (34-01.25) and 10.29 meters (33-09.25) in the triple jump.
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"This meet was all about testing the team to see where we are at," Fife added. "The past year has certainly affected everyone differently, so it was nice to get that baseline in and see exactly what work needs to be done next. I've enjoyed watching the team have fun in this environment once again and we're already excited for another chance to compete next weekend."
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Up next for Missouri State is a trip to Warrensburg, Mo. to take part in the Mule Relays hosted by Central Missouri on Feb. 5. Â
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