More Track & Field Records Broken at Aztec Invitational

Thursday, March 26

San Diego, Calif.

All Day

Purdue Fort Wayne

Aztec Invitational (Day One)

More Track & Field Records Broken at Aztec Invitational

3/27/2015 11:58:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – IPFW track and field opened up its spring campaign on Thursday and Friday at the Aztec Invitational, hosted by San Diego State University. The Mastodons' trend of breaking records carried over from the indoor portion of the season as two were broken and another one was just missed. Overall, it was a solid start to the outdoor slate with seven top-10 finishes on the day.

Freshman Jenna Quillen kicked off the competition for the 'Dons on Thursday as she completed four of seven events as part of the Heptathlon. Quillen finished the all-around with three more events on Friday morning, racking up a total of 3,549 to earn seventh place overall.

The rest of team got into the action on Friday, with the highlight of the day coming in the 4x100 meter relay. The foursome of Whitney Hampton, Kiawna Cottrell, Kyley Marano and Sara Crawford turned in a stellar performance as they recorded a new school-record time of 48.52 in the event. The mark broke the previous program record of 49.39 that was set just a year ago at the Summit League Outdoor Championships.

Cottrell continued her impressive freshman campaign, just missing the 200-meter school record in her first collegiate outdoor meet. The first-year sprinter and field athlete clocked a time of 25.59 in the race—just behind the program mark of 25.36 set by Angie Suel back in 2006—and finished sixth in a loaded field. Cottrell also competed in the long jump, collecting a second top-10 finish on the day with a jump of 5.15 meters (16-10.75).

Also competing in the 200 were sophomores Marano, Sara Crawford and Hampton, who posted times of 26.50, 27.49 and 27.72, respectively.

Marano participated in a third event on the day as she tied for 10^th in the high jump with a mark of 1.50 meters (4-11.00). Hampton and Crawford also ran in a third event on the day, recording times of 13.17 and 13.21 in the 100-meter dash.

Fellow sophomore Tori Nida wrapped up the short/middle distance races with a 10^th-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 1:08.90.

In the long distance portion of the second day of the meet, freshmen Sydney Strang and Taylor Busch dove right in with the 3,000 meter steeplechase. Strang placed ninth in a time of 13:21.33, while Busch came in at 10^th after recording a time of 14:15.43.

Sophomore middle-distance phenom Brittany Beard kicked off her second outdoor season with another record-setting performance as she placed seventh in the 1,500 meter race with a time of 4:32.76, breaking her own mark of 4:33.72 that she set last April as a freshman. First-year runner Kayla McGurk also competed in the event, turning in a time of 4:54.69, along with fellow freshman Emily Roman, who clocked in with a time of 5:16.00.

Running in the 5,000 meter race were junior Andrea Bell and sophomore Rachel Kacer, who posted times of 19:52.67 and 20:02.07, respectively.

The 'Dons will wrap up the third and final day of the meet on Saturday, with competition beginning at 9 a.m. PT.

~Feel the Rumble~