JONESBORO (12/5/09) – The Rhodes Women's Track & Field Team opened their indoor season with an excellent showing at the Arkansas State University Kickoff Klassic. Competing primarily against Division I and II schools, the Lynx posted very strong marks in the sprinting and jumping events, highlighting the best debut performance ever at this meet and proving hard summer workouts and fall training does pay dividends.
In the first contested running event of day, freshman Lindsay Svehla (Bellevue, NE) posted an superb time of 7.48 seconds 55m dash. She was followed by sophomore Kyla Graham (St. Louis, MO), who finished in 7.87 seconds. Also competing in the short sprinting events were juniors Jessie Ormand (Hammond, LA) and Molly Buck (Austin, TX) and senior co-captains Elizabeth and Rachel Bernard (Southlake, TX) in the 55m hurdlers. Their times of 9.12, 9.24, 9.73, and 9.98 seconds respectively were the best finishes by Division III athletes in the field. The Bernard twins also competed in the 400m, posting nearly identical times of 68.91 (Elizabeth) and 68.98 (Rachel) seconds.
In a very competitive 200m dash, Rhodes demonstrated great depth, with all four runners finishing within 1.12 seconds of one another. Leading the way was senior co-captain Julia Goss (St. Louis, MO) in 26.95 seconds, followed by Svehla – 27.12 seconds, Graham – 28.02 seconds and freshman Megan Lee (Castro Valley, CA) – 28 seconds.
In the last event of the day, the 4x400m relay turned into an exciting head-to-head battle with host Arkansas State. The Rhodes team of Buck, Lee, freshman Sam Specht (Saint Petersburg, FL), and Goss placed an impressive 8th overall finish with a time of 4:07.47, getting barely nipped at the line by the Division I ASU Foxes.
The field event competitors had an equally successful day. Senior pole vaulter Kim Tryon (Gulf Breeze, FL) had a strong season debut performance, clearing 10'9” and placing 11th in a very competitive field. In the long jump, Goss also had an excellent day, jumping an outstanding 17'4.25” – only 6” away from the NCAA Championships Provisional Standard – a performance made all the more impressive by the fact a broken foot hindered her for much of the summer. Rounding out the field events were Ormand and Specht in the triple jump. Their jumps of 33'10” and 33'1.75” respectively were good for 8th and 9th place in what turned out to be a highly contested competition.
As per tradition, the Kickoff Klassic is a non-scoring meet, but regardless, the individual performances from all the athletes made the first meet of the year a very successful one. With such strong showings across the board, the 2010 track season promises to be exciting and the team, with continued training and improvement, looks maintain their status as defending SCAC champions. The season takes a hiatus for winter break, but look for the Lynx to be back in action when they travel to Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, IN for the Engineer Invitational on January 30th.
RESULTS
