GENEVA, Ohio - Junior Micha Powell topped her own school record in the 400 meter prelims Friday, running the fastest seed time in 53.10 on day one of the Big Ten Championships. The mark was over six tenths of a second faster than her previous program record (53.73) set at the Armory Track Invitational earlier this month, and she'll look to capture a conference title in the event tomorrow at 1:50 pm.
“We rallied together for a solid opening day and will look to additional scoring opportunities tomorrow,” said head coach Andrew Valmon. “Today I saw our women compete with a common purpose and we will continue this mission on Saturday.”
Sophomore Alexandra Lucki advanced past the preliminaries in the mile, finishing second in her heat with a time of 4:45.36. The time ties her previous season-best mark this season, and she will go up against the field in tomorrow's finals scheduled to start at 1:30 pm.
Sophomore Peyton Wade finished fifth in the pentathlon for the Terps, scoring 3,790 points. She got off to a solid start in the opening two events, notching 1,893 points with a 8.92 in the 60 meter hurdles while clearing 1.79 meters (5-10.5”) in the high jump). She ended with a 9.24 meter toss in the shot put, 5.35 meters in long jump and a mark of 2:24.78 in the 800.
Junior Catherine Voelpel took 10th in 600 meter run with a season-best time of 1:31.84. The mark was nearly a second faster than her time of 1:32.72 recorded at last year's Big Ten Championships and her best of the season.
Senior Chioma Onyekwere posted a sixth place finish in the shot put with a throw of 15.76 meters (51'8.50”). Onyekwere will be back in action tomorrow when she competes in the weight throw scheduled for 1:45 pm.
Sophomore Kayla Richardson finished 10th in the long jump with a leap of 5.78 meters (18'11¾”). Senior Charlotte Staver ran a career-best 2:10.47 in the 800 meter event with a time of 2:10.47.
Penn State currently sits atop the women's team leaderboard with a combined 56.5 points through six events, while Minnesota (37) and Michigan (25) round out the top three. Maryland is slotted ninth with seven points.
Competition at the Spire Institute will resume tomorrow starting at 11:45 am. Follow along with live video via BTN2Go starting at 1:15 pm.
-Terps-
