Track and Field Shakes off Rust With Strong Performances in Birmingham

Friday, January 18

Birmingham, Ala.

Tulane University

Samford Invitational

Track and Field Shakes off Rust With Strong Performances in Birmingham

Jan 18, 2019 | Track & Field

Meet Results

NEW ORLEANS – The Green Wave field athletes had very strong days at the Samford Invitational, picking up two victories and two of the team's most impressive marks at the Birmingham Crossplex on Friday. Tulane had five total wins, 17 top-five finishes and made one adjustment to the school's all-time top-10 list on the day.

Senior Rebekah Markel impressed once again in the pole vault, winning the event with ease as she cleared 4.10 meters, her season best and just five centimeters less than her personal best. Markel cleared 3.65 meters and 3.80 meters on her first attempt and needed two tries to get over 3.95. It took all three attempts to get over the 4.10 mark, but the senior pulled through and won the event in style. No other jumper cleared more than 3.80 meters.

"We've had a couple weeks to get the rust off after the holiday," said Eric Peterson, Tulane's Director of Cross Country and Track & Field. "Coming out here and seeing some kids win events that we know we're strong in is good."

Freshmen Alex Potts, Megan Fitzgerald and Nastja Modic went 3-4-5 in the pole vault, clearing 3.8 meters, 3.65 meters and 3.65 meters, respectively. Senior Rose Brutkiewicz tied with Modic for fifth, also clearing 3.65 on her second try.

Freshman Trina Malej had an incredible progression in the triple jump, getting better on every single one of her six attempts. On her first go, she reached 11.70 meters. She followed that with jumps of 11.92 and 11.99 meters to reach the finals. In her three extra jumps, she went 12.12, 12.33 and 12.44 meters to blow away the old meet record and win the event by more than half a meter. That distance also now puts her seventh all-time in team history in the triple jump.

The Green Wave placed first and second in the 60-meter hurdles, with Kyah Loyd taking the crown with a time of 8.59 seconds and Brandi Hughes coming up right behind her with a time of 8.62 seconds. Hughes was actually the faster of the two in the prelims, which she won in an impressive 8.48 seconds while Loyd was second in 8.58.

"In particular, it's great to have a couple real high-level performances at the conference level from Rebekah, Brandi's preliminary time and Trina in the triple jump," Peterson said. "It's a good way to get going again."

Louise Jones and Pauline Helm also ran the 60-meter hurdles with Jones taking 13th in 9.63 seconds and Helm in 14th.

In the next event of the day – the 400-meter race – Tulane did even better as it earned the top three finishes. Maya Harewood set a new meet record with a time of 55.99 seconds, Tahja Mitchell came in second in 56.49 and Hunter Robinson placed third. Also running strong in the 400 was Kyra Ness-Lanckriet in 59.61 seconds and Oneke Gwan in 1:01.00.

Tulane ended the meet with a great showing in the 4x400 relay, setting a meet record with a time of 3:48.96. The Green Wave 'B' Team also ran well, taking third in 3:50.19 that was below the previous meet record as well.

The mile run saw two Green Wave women break the previous meet record for the event, as Emma Newton and Mckenzie Melius both ran faster than the 5:10 mark set by Samfod's Abbey Zane in 2018. Newton placed third in the mile Friday with a time of 5:03.47, and Melius took fourth in 5:07.24. Newton's time was less than half a second shy of her personal best.

Mary Catherine Stovall was eighth in the mile in 5:22.70 while Jennifer LaMori was right behind her in 5:25.17. In the 3K, Stovall got another top-five finish for Tulane by placing third in 10:57.39.

Olivia Hicks placed fifth in the high jump, clearing 1.55 meters. The freshman leapt over the bar at 1.50 meters and 1.55 meters on her first try but was unable to get over at 1.60 meters. Pauline Helm also competed, clearing 1.50 meters on her first attempt for seventh place.

Aldrianna Dupree started the day off well for Tulane, racing to a time of 7.65 seconds in the 60-meter dash prelims to win her heat and place third overall in the preliminary field.

Next up for Tulane is the Texas Tech Classic in Lubbock, Texas. The Green Wave will face stiff competition from multiple regions of the country when they travel to the Lone Star State on January 25-26.

"Next week is obviously a highly competitive meet with inter-regional competition that we're going to face, and it's going to be a much bigger test," Peterson said. "But we're coming out of the holiday, and we're off to a good start."