CHESTER, Pa. — Catholic University women's track and field junior Clare Marsh produced a massive effort in the 400-meter hurdles at the Widener Final Qualifying Meet on Monday to effectively book her ticket to NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships.
The hurdler smashed her previous personal best by over a second-and-a-half to break the program and Landmark Conference records in the event. She went 1:02.06, which currently sits 10th in the country as times from other final qualifying meets continue to come in. She will have to wait until the official participant list is unveiled on Friday, May 17, to confirm her place at the national championships.
Another program record fell on the day as Lauren Cerda shattered a 42-year-old standard in the 1500m. The senior, running in the final collegiate meet of her career, etched her name into the Catholic history books with a run of 4:31.39 to surpass the previous record holder, Carolyn Hughes, who went 4:33.24 in 1982, by almost two full seconds. She placed third on the day as Apolline Gaspers followed her to the line with a personal best of her own. Gaspers' 4:34.02 pushes her past teammate Emily Moehringer into third all-time in program history.
Moehringer produced an important performance in the 800m, increasing her chances of qualifying for the national meet in the event. At the start of the day, she sat 18th in DIII with a time of 2:11.01, uncomfortably close to the cut-off line for qualification. She bettered her personal standard by .24 seconds as she went 2:10.77 to finish fifth. The time would better her position by one spot, again with other results coming in from around the country. She will hope to see her name on the list come Friday.
Program record-holder Erin Buckley went 12.54 in the 100-meter dash, just .10 seconds off of her standard pace set earlier this season. Sarah Schumacher joined Buckley in the event and went under 13 seconds for the first time in her collegiate career, clocking a time of 12.92 while Ellie Bixenman went 13.36.
Buckley ran a personal-best time of 26.06 to become the second-fastest women in program history in the 200m dash. The same trio of sprinters took to the track again for Catholic, with Schumacher clocking in under 27 seconds for the first time in her career with a dash of 26.55 while Bixenman went 26.82, just shy of her personal standard.
Sabrina Beniquez placed eighth in the 400m with a time of 1:00.09, bettering her personal best by .03 seconds while Sadie Abood was just two seconds off of her program-record time in the steeplechase. Abood went 10:40.56 on the day.
Catholic's 4x400 relay team of Marsh, Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year Brigid Byrnes, Zoey Brown and Beniquez ran 3:58.37, the third-fastest time in program history and only the fourth time a Cardinal quartet has gone under four minutes. In the 4x1 relay, Buckley, Schumacher, Megan Burns and Bixenman ran 49.99, the seventh-fastest time in program history.
Marsh and Moehringer will hope to be on their way to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for the national championship meet that will begin on Saturday, May 25.
