FAIRFAX, Va. - Catholic women's indoor track & field put forth a tremendous performance this weekend at the Patriot Games as four program records fell.
Kate Inglis,
Lauren Cerda, and
Brigid Byrnes broke individual program records while the 4x400 team set a new program best in the event.
Set to compete in the 5,000 on Friday night in Fairfax, Inglis' run was delayed by a power outage at the Field House, pushing the event to Saturday morning. The time change did not hinder the junior Inglis as she bested her own program record with a finishing time of 17:53.49 as she finished second in the event. Inglis moves into the top five in Landmark Conference history with the time and enters the top 25 in NCAA Division III this season on the Performance List.
Later in the afternoon, the duo of Cerda and Apolline Gaspers ran in unison during the mile as they both broke a 43-year old program record. Cerda, running in her second-ever track meet, ran to a third-place finish, crossing the line in 5:03.41. Gaspers finished just behind her in 5:03.49. Caroline Hughes' mile record of 5:05.14 stood since 1981.
Cerda's time is a nearly 11-second improvement from last weekend's Comstock Cardinal Classic while Gaspers improved on her previous personal-best time of 5:09.46 in the event. They now rank third and fourth in Landmark Conference history.
Byrnes, the next to break a program record, cruised to a sixth-place finish in the 500 with a time of 1:20.74. Byrnes broke
Anna Walcutt's record time of 1:21.57 set back in 2022 at this event. In a busy day, Byrnes also finished fifth in the long jump with a leap of 5.90 meters.
Adding a second program record to her tally for the day, Byrnes was part of the 4x400 relay team that set a new program record with a time of 4:06.63. She was joined by
Sabrina Beniquez,
Clare Marsh, and
Zoey Brown.
Marsh and Beniquez also posted strong times in individual events. Marsh moved grabbed the fifth spot on the Catholic performance list in the 200 with a time of 27.66 while Beniquez placed ninth in the 400 with a time of 1:01.99
Other strong performers included
Alexa Grassi, who moved into sixth all-time on the Catholic performance list in the 800 with a time of 2:24.35,
Edith Tomasek, who moved into third all-time on the Catholic performance list in the triple jump with a leap of 10.27 meters, and
Sarah Schumacher, who stays in seventh on the 200 performance list, but improved her time to 27.75.
Alicia Vo finished seventh in the pentathlon with 2,396 points.