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Women's track and field dominates SLIAC outdoor championships

Women's track and field dominates SLIAC outdoor championships

GREENVILLE, Ill. - The women's track and field team posted the most dominant performance in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's track and field championship history, winning the outdoor title with 341 points, blowing past the previous championship team score record by over 80 points.

The Panthers took home 37 total medals, besting the previous mark by 10, and set a new conference championship mark with 14 gold medals at one event.

The Panthers were routinely taking the podium, sweeping five different events on the day. It was an All-Panther podium picture for the long jump, triple jump, hammer throw, shot put, and 100-meter dash.

Cayden Sharp became the conference's all-time leader in medals, adding six more to her collection. She collected gold in the high jump, long jump, triple jump, 100-meter hurdles, and 100 meter dash, giving her 13 career gold medals. She also took second place in the 200 meter dash, giving her 18 career medals.

She was also part of the Panthers' gold medal-winning 4x100 relay team. Sharp not only set conference records for medal counts but tied the championship mark in the high jump with a height of 5 feet-3.75 inches and set new records in the long jump with an attempt of 18-1 and a 100 meter hurdles time of 14.88 seconds.

Tawny Rodriguez put on a show in the throwing events, going three for three. She picked up gold in the discus, hammer, and shot put to become the first thrower in conference history to take home gold in all three events at the same championship. Rodriguez's gold medal throws included a record-setter in the discus, breaking her own mark by nearly five feet with a distance of 130-8.

Other gold medalists for GU were Emma Brown in the javelin, Alexis Roberts in the 400 meter hurdles, Taylor Tucker in the 200 meter dash, and Gretchen Carie in the 3000 meter steeplechase.

Brown was a record-setter in the javelin, throwing 111-3, and the 4x100 relay team of Sharp, Alexa Seger, Kiki Boscolo, and Tucker set a new championship time of 49.02 seconds.

In the awards ceremony occurring after the meet, the field athlete of the year recipients were Tawny Rodriguez and Cayden Sharp. Talahiva Talanoa received the field newcomer of the year honor, and the coaching staff from Greenville was the coaching staff of the year.

The conference champion Panthers will enter the Monmouth meet on Friday, May 6.