When the two-day Vanderbilt Black and Gold wrapped up Saturday, there were a number of Bobcats who finished with strong performances, including Donyelle Brown, who finished with yet another career-best score in the hammer throw.
Friday’s events were all about Brown, a junior, who continued to push the bar higher for her competition. In the hammer throw, she broke her previous outing with a mark of 56.31 meters, which is nearly a full meter better than her throw at last weekend’s Wake Forest Open.
“With her mark this weekend, coach Pierlo and I believe (it) solidifies her spot in the NCAA first round,” coach Clay Calkins said.
Not only did Brown break another personal best, she finished just three-tenths of a meter shy of breaking a school record.
“She is a very capable, natural athlete” Calkins said. “She is very good at the hammer throw, and she will continue to do great things for us”
Also in the hammer throw, junior Janiece Rose claimed 10th place with a mark of 47.93 meters, and senior Lauren McCullough claimed 15th with a 15-meter throw.
One the track side of events, freshman Tajah Smith finished 14th in the 200-meter sprint and claimed a personal-best of 26.09 seconds.
Saturday’s events offered even more excitement for Ohio as freshman Ashlee Bilhimer took the reins from day one and carried the team all the way to the top of the podium.
Bilhimer finished first place with a mark of 39.82 meters, which is another accomplishment on her resume as she has already qualified for the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Championships.
Although junior Chanda Cuckler was out for the Bobcats, Calkins said before the weekend that he was looking for younger athletes to step up to pace the team.
Freshman Mackenzie Rankin placed seventh in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1 minute, 7 seconds.
Smith, who raced well on day one, sprinted right into day two falling just shy of another top-10 finish. In the 100-meter dash event, she finished 13th with a time of 12.89 seconds.
To round out the second day, sophomores Kayla Scott and Krista Roehlig competed in the distance category in the 3000-meter run and each racked up top-15 performances. Scott ran the event in 10:01.62 giving her a ninth-place finish, while Roehlig finished 13th.
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