NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt Track and Field ended its outdoor season at home Saturday at the Music City Challenge where the Commodores turned in five event wins, registered seven program all-time top 10 marks and broke one school record.
“This weekend was very special, because we honored our seniors,” director of cross country and track and field Althea Thomas said. “One of the messages we’ve talked about with the team recently is seeing things to completion. This week means a lot for the program, because this is our first group of individuals, we (the coaching staff) have seen to completion, from freshman to senior year. It’s seeing how they’ve led by example, by Anchoring Down, working hard, believing in a vision, having faith in us coaches and seeing how the young people who have come after them, whether in freshmen or transfers, have been able to carry that culture here at Vanderbilt. That alone makes this meet mean a lot. We like to see how they keep fighting and keep wanting more.”
The day started with a celebration of the program’s nine graduating student-athletes, Tina Benzinger, Max Blader, Gigi Clifford, Ella Escobar, Cameron Fawcett, Zach Hodges, Ella Lambert, Julia Rosenberg and Ellie Wolski.
Marta Sivina started the action for Vandy with a win in the open high jump, clearing 1.65 meters. In the invite section, Rowan Houston notched an outdoor season-best mark of 1.67 meters, tied for 10th in school history.
On the track, the 4×100-meter relay squad of Escobar, Benzinger, Alima Kassim and Josie Donelson clocked a season best 45.51 seconds to win the event and move to fourth all-time at Vandy.
Santana Spearman won the 100-meter hurdles invite, recording a time of 13.33 seconds. Taylor McKinnon and Devyn Parham turned in personal-best times of 13.59 and 13.61 seconds, respectively, improving their marks on the program all-time performers list to fifth and sixth.
The Commodores swept top 5 in the 400-meter hurdles, led by Allyria McBride’s 58.47-second time. Joy Moorer was right behind her with a personal-best time of 58.50 seconds, which is tied for eighth in school history. Madyson Wilson was the third-place finisher, registering a time of 58.80 seconds, a personal best and the 10th-ranked mark in program history. Parham, who also PRed, and Isabella Dagrosa rounded out the top 5 with respective times of 1:00.20 and 1:01.38.
In the 800 meters, Eva Gautreaux and Rosenberg notched personal-best times. Gautreaux turned in the No. 10 mark in school history, 2:07.13, and Rosenberg clocked 2:07.31. Gia Leone also PRed with a time of 2:30.57.
In the men’s division, Brady Bliven broke his own school record with a time of 1:49.06, which earned a third-place finish.
To end the weekend, the 4×400-meter relay of Moorer, McBride, Donelson and Wilson clocked 3:38.81 to win the event. Vandy’s second squad of Gautreaux, Sivina, Escobar and McKinnon finished third with a time of 3:48.38.
“We walked away with a lot of personal bests, a lot of continued changes to the Vanderbilt program top 10 lists and put ourselves in position to go to the SEC meet and represent what we do here, being a true student-athlete,” Thomas said.
Up next, the Vanderbilt track and field team heads to Lexington, Kentucky, for the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships May 15-17.
