After years of running, jumping and throwing at other tracks around the nation, the Billikens track and field team now has a place to call their own.
Last Friday and Saturday, the Billikens kicked off the inaugural Billiken Invitational and properly christened their new facilities by breaking a number of personal and school records.
This was the first track meet for the new medical school track since it opened last fall and had two athletes possibly headed the NCAA West Preliminaries.
“It was great [competing at home]! It felt so relaxing like practice but also exciting because of the competition. I feel that everyone was ready to have their best performance. We have been anticipating this weekend for a while so we were ready to compete hard,” senior Brittney Cloudy said.
On Friday the Bills kicked off the meet well in the women’s 5000 meters. Jessica Hoefert, Elise Medley and Natalie Myers finished first, second and third respectively. All three set personal bests in this event.
Cloudy won the long jump with a jump of 18-8 and fellow teammates Mallory Duggar and Naya Owusu finished second and fourth respectively. Cloudy won the triple jump on Saturday with a jump of 40-11.
Hannah Kuenzel had an amazing meet finishing second in the hammer throw, winning the discus with a throw of 128-02, and won the shot put. Another SLU thrower, Callan Luetkemeyer, won the hammer throw.
The most notable performance on the women’s side on Saturday was by Kita Alvares. Alvares set a school record in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:00:72. This performance allowed Alvares to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminaries.
The women’s 400 meters was dominated by SLU. Allison Walter, Ashley Roach, Duggar, and Cailtlyn Brinkmann finished in the top four in this event. Walter finished first with a time of 56:90.
“There’s no kind of energy like running in front of a home crowd. It was the first tie I won the 400 in a college meet and to be able to do it with my family and friends watching was the best part,” said Walter.
On the men’s side, Michael Scolarici won the 1500 meters. Eric Stoddard finished third in the 10,000 meters.
Sean Canavin finished in the 800 meters, William Whitehead finished fourth in the 100 meters. Dahmar Smiles finished second in the 110-meters hurdles and third in the 400-meter hurdles.
The meet was a major success for the Billikens.
“It was great! It felt so relaxing like practice but also exciting because of the competition. I feel that everyone was ready to have their best performance. We have been anticipating this weekend for a while so we were ready to compete hard,” Cloudy said.
The Bills have a few more meets this season. The team will travel on Friday to the University of Arkansas to compete in the John McDonnell Invitational. The team will then follow up this meet with the Drake Relays on Wednesday April 25 which take place in Des Moine, Iowa.
