KENT, Ohio - Competing against primarily Division-I and II foes, the Allegheny women's track and field team more than held its own on the second and final day of the season-opening Kent State Golden Flash Gala.
"To go against that kind of competition this early in the year and race as well as we did, it's encouraging," said head coach
Justin Linzy. "In my years doing this, this was the best first meet that I've seen from a team in a long time."
On the track, Allegheny's
Amanda Balzer got her senior season off to a fine start, establishing a pair of personal records. In the 300 meter dash, Balzer ran a solid 43.60 seconds, before she excelled as the lone Division III runner in the 60 hurdles. In the 18-runner prelims, Balzer placed seventh with a career-best time of 9.34 seconds to qualify for the finals. Racing against seven Division I foes, Balzer took fifth in the finals with a time of 9.36 seconds.
"Amanda came out and set a lifetime PR," said Linzy, "and made finals against a strong group of D-I runners. That was big time, and it should be a sign of great things to come this season fo rher."
Fellow veterans
Noelle Lemons and
Amanda Wildt also established new career marks, with the former posting a time of 43.81 seconds in the 300, and the latter 8.47 seconds in the 60 meter dash.
Sophomore
Jen Johnson led the Gator field athletes on day two, as she tied a liftetime PR in the high jump with a leap of 1.55 meters to place fifth overall - and first among D-III jumpers - in an 18-woman field.
"Jen already qualified for the conference championship with that performance," Linzy said. "We started her off conservatively, and she cleared three bars. If we were more aggressive, I bet she easily could have gone 5-3. It has to be a big confidence booster for her to open up with such a nice performance."
Entering finals week and then the semester break, the Gators will now have a nearly six-week layoff before returning to action with a meet at Wooster on Jan. 21. Linzy is pleased to enter the lengthy sojourn on the heels of such a strong performance.
"It was a great first meet to enter into break with," said the coach. "We really represented ourselves well, and it really gives us something positive to build off of as we head into winter training."
