GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Trine women's track and field team placed third in the MIAA Indoor Track and Field Championship Saturday at Calvin College.
The Thunder scored 94 points in the meet as the team improved upon its conference performance from last season by two places. Trine performers combined for four first-place finishes, leading to All-MIAA honors in four events. Kara Eck (Auburn, Ind. / DeKalb), Jenna Gales (Mendon, Mich. / Mendon), Jensyn Garrow (Archbold, Ohio / Archbold), Kaylyn Forrest (Cassopolis, Mich. / Ross-Beatty) and Ashlyn Maskow (Howe, Ind / Lakeland) each earned all-conference honors. The Thunder set three school records in the event.
Eck led the way with a pair of first-place finishes. The junior led a dominating duo of Thunder performers in the weight throw with a school-record toss of 17.64 meters (57 feet, 10.5 inches) to earn gold in that event. Jenn Steyer (Fenton, Mich. / Lake Fenton) set a new personal-best to place second in the weight throw with a distance of 16.79 meters (55 feet, 1 inch). Steyer's throw was more than a meter better than the third-place performer.
Eck also won the shot put, as her throw was measured at a distance of 13.39 meters (43 feet, 11.25 inches). Andrea Hagar (Goshen, Ind. / Fairfield) also picked up points in the event with a sixth-place finish.
Trine's 4-x-400-meter relay team set a new school record to win the event. Garrow, Gales, Forrest and Maskow combined on a time of 4:07.20 to set the new school mark. The time was also a MIAA Indoor record.
Gales continued her strong performance elsewhere with a win in the 400-meter dash in 58.84 seconds. Garrow added a third-place finish in the event with a personal-best time of 59.67 seconds.
Gales also set a new school record with a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash. The freshman broke her own school record with a time of 26.18 seconds. Forrest added a fifth-place finish, while Garrow placed eighth in the event.
Forrest also saw success and narrowly missed setting a new team record in the 60-meter dash. The freshman placed second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.14 seconds, just hundredths of a seconds off her own school mark.
Hannah Blystone (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel) contributed a pair of scoring performances in mid-distance events for Trine. Blystone set a new personal-best to place third in the Mile. She crossed the finish line in 5:21.91. Blystone also placed seventh in the 800-meter run with atime of 2:29.50.
Trine's Distance Medley Relay also contributed a third-place finish. Blystone, Kyla Binfet (West Yellowstone, Mont. / West Yellowstone), Massie Jo Maskow (Howe, Ind. / Lakeland) and Lacie Piekarski (Spring Lake, Mich. / Spring Lake) combined on a time of 13:08.06. The performance was the best by the Thunder in the event this season, breaking the previous-best mark by 16 seconds.
Binfet also turned in a strong performance in the 3000-meter run. She ran a time of 10:41.12 to set a new personal-best by 18 seconds. She was just two seconds off the school-record pace.
Kelsey Ortiz (Swanton, Ohio / Anthony Wayne) added a personal-record in the 5,000-meter run. Ortiz placed eighth with a time of 18:32.1.
CLICK HERE for complete results.
Trine performers will compete in last-chance meets next week to solidify spots in the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field National Championships in Naperville, Ill.
