Strong Day 1 for Cougars at Crossroads League Championships
Indianapolis, IN- A trio of school records and one conference title highlighted day 1 for the Men's and Women's Track and Field teams as they kicked off competition at the 2023-24 Crossroads League Championship.
The lone conference champion for the cougars came when Senior, Joe Painter cleared 4.85 meters to clinch the victory on his last jump! Painter is one of two cougar men to have qualified to the NAIA National Championship in Brookings, South Dakota later this month. The other male qualifier is Freshman, Alvin Keter who punched his ticket to nationals with his school record 14:52.05 and sixth place finish. Sophomore, Cole Sikorski, kept things going for the men with an 8th place finish in the men's 600 meter dash and setting another school record running 1:25:01
The women's quartet of Kiara Bahena, Hannah Hawkins, Victoria Clibon, and Alex Ebetino ran the 5th fastest time in USF history in the 4x800 meters, (9:47.23) to finish in 5th place. Mariah Maley finished 4th in the 600 meter run (1:49.33) to score 5 team points for the lady cougars. Madison Hinderliter threw 14.59 meters in the women's weight finishing in 7th place. Rounding out the scoring for the women in school record time was the Distance Medley Relay crew of Bahena, Maley, Clibon, and Ebetino finishing in third place 12:16.01, and bringing home all conference accolades!
"We had a great day 1 of competition." said Director of Track and Field Coach Brendon Moody. "We need to ride this momentum into day 2 and keep competing hard."
