Marian Women Claim Fourth Consecutive Crossroads League Outdoor Track and Field Championship
Crossroads League Championships Central
Marion, Ind. - For the fourth consecutive year and the fifth time in program history, the Marian women's track and field team won the Crossroads League Outdoor Track and Field Championship. The Knights scored 161 points overall ,with Indiana Wesleyan behind in second with 149 points, and Bethel (Ind.) placing in third with 136 points. Taylor, Grace, Goshen, St. Francis (Ind.), Huntington, Spring Arbor, and Mount Vernon rounded out the team scores.
On the track Marian scored in the 100m with Catalla Jones and Armoney Clay both scoring in the top eight. The Knights had three finishers in the top seven in the 200m with Janae Bailey placing third with a time of 25.08, Jones placing sixth, and Hanna Reuter placing seventh. Marian took home four spots in the top eight of the 400m with Taylor Thomas claiming first place with a time of 58.06, Reuter was not far behind in second place with a time of 58.68. Maya Mundy and Adrianna Boyd finished off the race in seventh and eighth place both claiming points for the team.
Katie Woods hit the NAIA A standard in the 800m with a time of 2:13.29 to claim second place in the race, Nora Steele also claimed a spot in the top eight with a finish in seventh place. Woods dominated in the 1500m with another NAIA A standard of 4:32.47 to claim first place in the event. Liz Loichinger also claimed points for Marian finishing in seventh place.
The Knights claimed two spots in the top eight of the 100m Hurdles with Nina Marinkovic claiming fourth and Brooke Coffman claiming sixth both tallying up points for the Knights. Marian placed fourth in the 4x100m relay, as the team of Bailey, Clay, Jones, and Marinkovic tallied up five points. The team of Bailey, Boyd, Mundy, and Reuter hit the NAIA A standard with a time of 3:53.22 and claimed first place in the 4x400m relay.
Marinkovic finished in third place in the triple jump with a mark of 11.01m, Shirmara Anderson finished in fifth, and Gina Butz finished in seventh to claim points for the Knights. Arriana Benjamin claimed first place in the Hammer with a mark of 50.30m which hit the NAIA B standard. Keeley Hughes finished in third place which tallied up six points for the Knights.
Bella Dean finished in sixth place in the javelin with a mark of 30.44m to claim three points for Marian. Dean also claimed fifth in the Heptathlon with 3306 points.
Marian will send their multiple national qualifiers to the NAIA Championships in late May, and will look to add a few more members on May 8 and 9 as the Knights host a last chance meet.