LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Phoenix won three events, set two program records and tallied seven top-three finishes as Elon opened its season at the Liberty Kickoff Invitational women’s indoor track and field meet Thursday evening at the Tolsma Indoor Track Center.
“We had some really great performances for the first meet of the year and many of our returners are already way ahead at this point of the year than they were at the completion of last year,” coach Mark Elliston said. “The girls have really been training hard all semester and it was great to see all that hard work pay off. This meet was a great way to conclude the semester and head into the winter break before coming back for the bulk of the indoor season in January (beginning Jan. 24 at North Carolina).”
Elon junior and three-time All-Southern Conference athlete Jennine Strange covered the 800-meter run in 2:21.26 to seize another first-place finish while freshman teammate Amy Salek sprinted through the 400-meter dash in 58.68 seconds on her way to a runner-up finish. The Phoenix 4x400-meter relay team – freshman Lauren Wilmer, Strange, sophomore All-Southern Conference performer Melissa Turowski and Salek – scurried to second place with a time of 4:05.83.
The Elon long jump duo of junior Monique Vines (17-09.0) and sophomore Veronica Day (17-07.5) landed in first and second place. Day captured the triple jump title with a new Phoenix-record leap of 37-03.75 while sophomore Justine Robertson set a new Elon milestone in the weight throw with a heave of 12.75 meters and later placed third in the shot put with a throw of 11.73 meters.
