BEREA, Ohio – The Allegheny women's track and field team earned six top-five finishes, while five athletes achieved new personal records, at the Baldwin Wallace Mid-February Invitational.
 
The Gators totaled 49 points to place fifth in a deep 16-team field.
 
Rookie Elizabeth Debich turned in the team's top individual performance, as she placed first in a field of 27 in the shot put with a heave of 11.66 meters, just inches off of her personal best.  All five of the freshman's throws would have topped the field, while her second heave of the day proved to be the winner, and measured nearly five feet further than the second-place finisher.
 
On the track, freshman Maggie Malley made the most of her first collegiate foray in the 5,000 meter run, as she placed second in a field of 11 with a time of 20:51.84.
 
Competing in the 400 meter dash for the first time this season, sophomore Tori Valachovic earned a runner-up finish with a time of 1:02.09, just a half second out of first place.  In the same race, sophomore Katelynn Frawley established a new personal record by over a second, placing eighth in a 29-runner field with a time of 1:04.11.   Freshman Caitlyn Davis (1:05.23 – 13th) and sophomore Kathryn Sutter (1:05.83 – 15th) also turned in strong performances in the race.
 
Freshman MacKenzie Robertson turned in a pair of top-five finishes for the Gators.  In the triple jump, she took fifth with a leap of 9.92 meters, just inches off of a season-best, before she also placed fifth in a 37-runner field in the 200 meter dash with a time of 27.97 seconds, a new personal record by a half second.
 
Robertson was one of two Gators to PR in the 200, as Frawley placed 18th with a time of 28.82, also a half second ahead of her previous career mark.
 
 In the mile run, three Gators placed in the top half of the 37-runner field, led by Claire Morrison's seventh-place time of 5:35.34, a new personal mark.  Competing at the distance for the first time in their collegiate careers, Kara Travers placed 13th in 5:43.72, and Sarah Lucas 18th in 5:53.73.
 
Lucas would go on to earn a 10th-place finish in a field of 28 in the 800 meter run, posting a time of 2:34.79.
 
The Gators would close out the evening with a second-place finish in the 4x400 relay, as Kathryn Sutter, Frawley, Robertson, and Raina Gorman teamed up to post a time of 4:24.33, just eight-tenths of a second off the lead.
 
Allegheny will return to Ohio for its next competition, the Mount Union Raider Tune-Up scheduled for Saturday, February 17.