Bryan Leads WVU at Nittany Lion Challenge
January 16, 2016 07:29 PM | Track & Field
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Freshman Danique Bryan won the women’s long jump, leading the West Virginia University track and field team today at the Nittany Lion Challenge in State College, Pennsylvania, to open the regular season.
Bryan jumped 6.00 meters in the long jump, marking a personal best and the fourth-best performance in WVU indoor history.
Three Mountaineers posted top-three finishes in their respected events, along with Bryan. Sophomore Shamoya McNeil finished third in the triple, marking an indoor best 12.39 meters, the third best score in WVU’s indoor history. Sophomore Bria Welker sprinted to a third-place finish in the women’s 400-meter dash in 58.34 and junior Amy Cashin placed third in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:12.28.
“Today was a nice opener for our team,” said coach Sean Cleary. “This might be the latest opener that WVU has ever had, so we wanted to see how that impacted the group. For the first meet of the year we feel we accomplished a few of our goals. Competing at home next week will be good for us. The plan will be to get back to hard training and work on some of our weaknesses from this weekend. When we return to this track in two weeks, we expect to be better.”
West Virginia posted three finishes in the top 13 in the 1,000-meter run. Sophomore Millie Paladino led the team placing sixth overall in 2:45.80. Senior Savanna Plombon placed 12th with a time of 2:52.25 and senior Kelly Williams finished in 13th in 2:53.67.
In the women’s pole vault, sophomore Sara Finfrock placed seventh with a vault of 3.54 meters, recording a personal best. Freshman Jordan Hess placed 11th with a vault of 3.39 meters.
Senior Marsielle McBeam and freshman Faith Penny posted sixth- and seventh-place finishes in the women’s high jump. McBeam finished in sixth place with a 1.70 meter jump and Penny placed seventh (1.65). Senior Hannah Stone also competed in the event, placing ninth overall with a mark of 1.65 meters.
Freshman Candace Jones ran in the 600-meter run, finishing 12th with a time of 1:36.31.
Next up, West Virginia hosts the annual Marty Pushkin Classic at the WVU Shell Building on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 9 a.m. WVU then returns to PSU for the Penn State National Invitational, on Jan. 29-30.
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