[NEVADA ATHLETICS RELEASE]
Nevada Track and Field saw some impressive marks from the first meet of the indoor season Saturday at the Spokane Invitational with fifth year Emily Costello breaking the school record in the 400 meter with a time of 54.06, currently ranking first in the nation, while the Pack saw multiple other personal best performances from the team across several different events.
Head coach Shantel Twiggs believes her athletes performed to the best of their ability for this time of year with all the hard work they have put in during fall training.
“You cannot replicate these types of performance in practice as you can in the meet situation,” says Twiggs. “We are in a good place going into Christmas break and believe that today’s competition will motivate the athletes as we go into winter break to maintain their training and keep working on the great things we have been working on.”
Costello’s school record was previously held by one of Nevada’s greats, Caroline Sauer with a mark of 54.48, Sauer holding the record since 2020. The success didn’t stop there for Nevada, as a handful of other athletes put out some top tier performances. In the 60m hurdles preliminary round, junior Sarah Marske finished in an 8.77, a new personal best and just off the Nevada top-10 all-time list. Sophomore Halyn Senegal earned a six second personal best time in the 600m, finishing in first place and jumping up to the number two best time in school history with a 1:32.14. Finishing just behind her in a 1:35.92, junior Raegan Gorzeman jumped on the Nevada top-10 all-time list.
Leading the distance squad, graduate student Emily Clarke ran a 17:16.44 in the 5K, crossing the finish line in first and earning the fifth best time in Nevada school history. Junior Page Penrose finished in third with a time of 17:50.41, and sophomore Jasper Fievet finished in fifth with a 18:28.28. In the 3000m, junior Marije Hijman finished in third with a time of 9:54.46, a new personal best in the event by 29 seconds. Junior Liz Shaw finished in 13th place (11:00.09) and freshman Ashley Boone finished in 20th (11:26.76).
Making her debut representing the Pack in the long jump, sophomore Natasha Chetty was .01 centimeters off the tenth best mark in Nevada school history with her 5.71m. In the same event, graduate student Hanah Smrt and junior Maria Paz Milani both saw a mark of 5.50m while junior Rayven Nealey and freshman Johanna Hass had a mark of 5.34.
In the field events, freshman Valeria Paez-Rueda earned personal bests in both the 60m hurdles (9.27) and the high jump (1.61m), while sophomore Maria Paz Milani was just off her personal bests in both the triple jump (12.17m) and the long jump (5.50). Sophomore Camrin Dolcini earned a mark of 3.60m in the pole vault invite, finishing 10th, Samantha Irwin placing sixth with a mark of 3.30m and Shayla Pederson in third with a 3.45m.
To end the day, Nevada’s ‘A’ 4x400m relay team of Senegal, Costello, Gorzeman, and Harris finished in third with a 3:47.26, just a hair behind in conference rival Fresno State (3:47.26) and Stanford (3:46.63). Freshman Jasmine Harris ran the third fastest time in school history with her 57.83 relay split. Nevada’s ‘B’ relay made up of Smrt, Kadrmas, Paez-Rueda, and Marske finished in 12th (4:05.75).
“The amount of personal best performances this weekend just shows how hard the athletes have been working hard all fall,” says Twiggs. “I am looking forward to see how we can continue to grow as a team, in our training and as individuals.”
Nevada will look to keep their momentum going after the holiday break when they travel to the Texas Tech Open and Multis January 26-28.
