SAN ANTONIO — First-year Arden Neff made Southwestern history on the first day of the SCAC Women's Track & Field Championship Meet, leading the Pirates to fourth in the standings with one day of competition remaining.
Neff became the first Southwestern woman to win the 400-meter hurdles in the SCAC Championships with a time of 1:06.11, edging out Texas Lutheran's Brenna Iannelli (1:06.83) and Colorado College's Emma Fowkes (1:06.88). Tiamara Hill-Johnson won a field event last year in the discus. Keamber McCracken also competed in the event, placing fourth with a time of 1:06.90, and Jesse Chiella in 12th at 1:14.70.
Erica Robuck, Neff, Lauren Mackrell, and Keamber McCracken set a new school record in the 4x100 relay with a time of 49.76, breaking the mark of 49.96 they set earlier this season and placing fifth.
Mackrell paced four Pirates in the 200-meter dash with a 10th-place finish time of 26.72. Robuck followed close behind in 12th at 27.02. Olivia Bakke (28.23) and Dejahnae Thompson (28.32) rounded out the event lineup for Southwestern with 19th and 20th-place finishes. Rachel Chiella placed eighth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:32.89.
Taylor Hubbard finished tied for fifth in the pole vault with a height of 2.90 meters. Charlotte Kraushaar placed fourth in the long jump with a distance of 5.05 meters. Lilly Van Meter followed in 10th with a mark of 4.58 meters, and Hannah Jones in 16th with a jump of 4.12 meters.
Hill-Johnson led Southwestern in the shot put with a personal-best throw of 10.51 meters for a sixth-place finish. Riley Barlage placed 14th at 8.46 meters. Barlage placed fourth in the hammer throw with a personal-best distance of 39.72 meters, improving each event after starting at the DIII Challenge on March 26 with a mark of 26.68 meters. Hill-Johnson followed in ninth at 31.80 meters.
Competition resumes tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. with the 5,000-meter finals, followed by the discus, high jump, triple jump, and javelin.
