SELINSGROVE, Pa. — The Catholic University women's track and field team secured its best-ever finish at Landmark Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals came up just seven points shy of favorites Susquehanna to place second, totaling 147 points on the day. Steve Rahn, David Carter, and the rest of the Catholic staff were named Women's Indoor Staff of the Year for their efforts in the 2023-24 Indoor season. 

Kate Inglis started off the day in style running to victory in the 5,000-meter run. She was the only competitor in the field to go under 19 minutes, crossing the line in 18:59.66. Georgia Nussey also grabbed a top-five finish in the event, going 19:37.15 to place fifth.

Inglis made it two victories from two later in the meet when she won the 3,000-meter run by more than 10 seconds. The junior beat Scranton's Emily Hopkins to the line with a time of 10:14.67. For her efforts, Inglis was named Landmark Conference Track Athlete of the Year. 

The Cardinals also claimed a conference championship in the 4x200 meter relay. The quartet of Sabrina Beniquez, Ellie Bixenman, Sarah Schumacher and Felicity Giampietro crossed the line in 1:48.00, going a full second-and-a-half faster than runners-up Elizabethtown to claim the gold medal and set a new program record.

Continuing a season-long trend, Apolline Gaspers and Lauren Cerda both ran well in the mile again. After Cerda became the first woman in program history to go under five minutes in the event last weekend, it was Gaspers who claimed the conference championship, beating Cerda to line who finished second. Gaspers (5:10.33) won comfortably over Cerda (5:20.95) and was over 15 seconds faster than the closest non-Catholic challenger.

Catholic secured its fifth gold medal of the day as its 4x400 meter relay team also took home a win. Beniquez claimed her second victory of the meet, this time accompanied by Clare Marsh, Zoey Brown and Brigid Byrnes. The team went 4:08.02 to comfortably beat Scranton to the line by more than eight seconds while running the third-fastest time in program history.

Four Cardinals finished in the top five and five finished in the top 10 of the 800-meter run. Emily Moehringer, Cerda, Gaspers and Alexa Grassi went two-three-four-five behind Goucher's Tanise Thornton-Fillyaw who produced a stunning time of 2:11.51, third-quickest in DIII this season. Thornton-Fillyaw and Moehringer bettered the standing Landmark Conference Championship Record while Mia LaMarra (eighth) also secured a top-10 finish for Catholic. Moehringer's time of 2:14.07 also set a new program record.

Steve Rahn's team also put four athletes in the top seven in the 400m with Marsh (1:00.39) claiming the bronze. Beniquez crossed the line fourth, Brown placed sixth and Mia McConnell secured seventh, all scoring points for the Cardinals.

In the field, Ciara Donegan produced a season's-best throw of 12.27 meters to secure the silver medal in the shot put. Byrnes also earned a top-five finish, placing fifth with a mark of 5.13 meters in the long jump.

Catholic's five gold medals is a vast improvement from last season when the Cardinals failed to win any events en route to a fourth-place team finish.

Some Catholic athletes will compete at final qualifying meets next weekend in hopes of securing a berth into NCAA DIII Championships in two weeks' time. The Cardinals will attend meets hosted by Shenandoah and Tufts.