By Briana Oldham
The William and Mary Tribe Invitational took place on March 17 in Williamsburg, Virginia. The event marked the beginning of the outdoor portion of the spring season for the women’s track and field team.
There were multiple Vikings who emerged victorious over the seven outdoor events.
The only participant in the field events was Rachel Wenzel, who came in fourth by clearing a height of 1.53 meters in the high jump.
In the 100-meter dash, Chan’lier Myers finished second with a time 12.63 seconds, making this Cleveland State’s best finish in the sprint events.
Myers felt she could have run better, however, she feels she must keep in mind that it is the start of the new season.
“I need to let my body get used to it being outdoors,” Myers said.
She also thinks that the team started out the season well.
“We grew closer, and that helped [us] push each other along to run better,” Myers said.
Myers also placed fourth in the 200-meter dash, a team best, with a time of 26.13.
The Vikings added two third-place finishes to their tally. Samantha Meyer placed third in the 1500-meter run and Jessica Finley took third in the 5000-meter run. They finished with times of 5:05.50 and 18:07.26, respectively.
Meyer believes that the women performed at a high level to start the season.
“It was a good start to the season, and we definitely shattered expectations,” Meyer said.
She added that the weather in Virginia helped get the team back into the outdoor feel.
Meyer was admittedly a novice in the 1500-meter run, as she is accustomed to the 1600-meter run.
“I didn’t quite know what to expect, but I took my coaches’ suggestions for pacing into consideration and ran my heart out,” Meyer said.
Due to it being her first time ever running the event, Meyer wasn’t sure whether she posted a good time or not, but she was happy with her coaches assuring her she had done well and exceeded expectations.
When asked what the teams would like to accomplish this season, both Meyer and Myers agreed that the team would like to continue to make a name for themselves since they are new and young. Meyer added that the team is also focused on their league meet and after their showing at the invitational, they are ready.
Individually, both Meyer and Myers expressed goals of pushing themselves to be the best and contributing to the team.
Myers expressed her desire to leave her mark in the Horizon League and improve her time.
“I would like to beat the times I ran during indoor,” Myers said. “A big goal I’m shooting for is being able to qualify for the league meet and possibly score points for my team.”
The relay team finished second with a time of 50.52 in the 4×100 meter relay.
The Vikings finished in the top eight in 12 events and in four of the events, Cleveland State had a third-place finisher or better.
The team will participate in the Oliver Nikoloff Open on Saturday, March 31.