GWYNEDD VALLEY, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend women's track and field squad holds second place after day one of the 2018 Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) Championships with 63 total points, only five behind the leader, Marywood University.
Haley Yenchik (Cecil, PA/Canon McMillan) broke the CSAC and Behrend school record in the pole vault event with a winning height of 3.73m, breaking her own record of 3.61m. She currently ranks 14th in Division III. Yenchik also went on to set a new school record in the triple jump, breaking a record that had been held by hall of famer Staci Banaszek-Rock since 2005. She leaped a distance of 11.20m for second place.
Five Lions scored in the 1500m run. Savanna Carr (Franklin, PA/Franklin Area) set the charge by setting a new CSAC record with a first-place time of 4:52.55. Jenna Shelton (Cabot, PA/Knoch) and Riley Crissman (Bradford, PA/Bradford Area) took second and fourth respectively, crossing the finish line at 4:53.57 and 4:58.22. Country Sargent (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy) and Kelley Giles (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) closed out the scoring for Behrend with sixth and eighth place finishes, respectively. Sargent came in at 5:09.87 while Giles finished at 5:14.29.
Also in the pole vault, Gabriella Loeffler (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin), Maddie Werner (Pittsburgh, PA/Bethel Park), and Brianna Keith (Erie, PA/McDowell) finished in third, fourth, and fifth, respectively. All of the athletes leaped at a height of 2.88m.
Loeffler competed in the triple jump as well, taking eighth at 9.67m, while Ashlyn Carlsson (Butler, PA/Knoch) finished in fourth-place at a distance of 10.43m.
In the hammer, Myeisha Sanders (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy) threw for fifth-place with a final toss of 33.50m.
In the 10000m run, Becca Worley (Townville, PA/Maplewood) and Erica Koenig (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) both placed in the top two. Worley finished in first at 42:24.99 for an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) qualifying time. Koenig completed the event at 43:33.67 for second place.
The CSAC Championships will resume tomorrow starting at 10 a.m.