Harris Eclipses “A” Standard, 4×4 Wins Title at MCC Meet
William Penn Women's Athletics
Sterling, Ill.–The Lady Statesmen track and field team did not return home with the team crown Saturday, but it now has a national qualifier as it competed at the Midwest Collegiate Conference Indoor Championships.
William Penn placed seventh out of eight teams with 30 points, while Grand View claimed its fourth-consecutive title with 181 points, outdistancing runner-up St. Ambrose (160 points).
Audre Harris (So., Junction City, Kan., Allen CC) finished second in the 55-meter hurdles in a time of 8.57 seconds, but that was not the highlight of the performance.
The sophomore both met the NAIA’s “A” standard of 8.63 seconds and was one of three individuals to break the meet record. She is the team’s first national qualifier of the year.
The 4×400-meter relay team of Fatoumata Samura (Fr., Bronx, N.Y., Dewitt Clinton HS), Alexis Swinney (Fr., McKinney, Texas, McKinney HS), Shaniece Dishmon (Fr., Harvey, Ill., Thornton Township HS), and Sade Myers (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii, Radford HS) dominated the competition with a time of 4:08.35. The time, which was more than five seconds faster than the runner-up team, is both a school record (breaking its own mark of 4:09.03) and also sets a new meet record.
Samura was also fifth in the 400-meter dash (1:02.04), eighth in the 200 (27.14 seconds), and ninth in the 600 (1:46.86).
Myers was the other individual to score points for the navy and gold, finishing seventh in the 600 (1:43.49) and eighth in the 400 (1:03.77).
Morgan Avery (Sr., Minot, S.D., Iowa Western CC), Alexis Kauzlarich (Fr., Centerville, Moulton-Udell HS), Kaitlyn Graves (So., Bloomfield, Indian Hills CC), and Rosemary Bailey (So., Fayetteville, Ark., Home School) posted a pair of seventh-place showings in the 4×800-meter relay (12:31.13) and the Distance Medley Relay (16:02.91).
Swinney and Dishmon had top-tens as well with Swinney crossing the line in ninth place in the 55-meter dash (7.63 seconds) and tenth in the 200 (27.33 seconds), while Dishmon was tenth in the 55 (7.66 seconds). Swinney’s 55 time was just .003 seconds shy of qualifying for the finals.
Next: A few chosen Lady Statesmen will travel to Columbia, Mo. next Friday to compete in the Missouri Collegiate Challenge.
