The BG track and field team competed in the Early Bird Relays at the University of Cincinnati Saturday evening. The team had multiple women finish in the top of their respective races and events, which ended a good day for the Falcons overall.
Natalie Sommerville won the 400-meter hurdles and Tiera Parker won the triple jump as the BG track and field team placed third out of 11 teams at the season-opening UC Early Bird Relays.
In the unique scoring event, each team’s top two marks were combined for a relay total. The first place team received five points, second place received four and third place received three. The Falcons scored 79 points to edge out Xavier, Cedarville and Northern Kentucky. Cincinnati won the event with 145 points, followed by Wright State with 92.
“We had positive performances today,” Coach Lou Snelling said. “Our goal was to open up the season well in our first two meets and we took a good step towards that today. We look forward to opening up the rest of the team at NC State in two weeks.”
Parker, who was competing in her first collegiate outdoor event, had a strong meet to win the triple jump with a distance of 11.26 meters. It was the first time in her career to complete in the triple jump. She also placed third in the long jump with a distance of 5.31 meters.
Sommerville started the 2013 campaign where she left off her freshman season a year ago, setting a new personal best time of 1:03.50 in the 400-meter hurdles. That time was .08 seconds ahead of her time at the MAC Championships this past year.
BG had seven competitors compete in both the 100-meter and the 200-meter races with senior Allison Weimer leading the way by placing third in both. Redshirt sophomore Brittany Sinclair followed with a fifth place finish in the 100-meter race and freshman Taylor Rambo placed fourth in the 200-race.
Freshman Demetra Taylor had a strong result in the 100-meter hurdles race by finishing second in a time of 14.57 seconds. Senior Felicia Jefferson placed third in the 400-meter race with a time of 59.13 seconds.
The Falcons will try to continue to improve against North Carolina State University when they compete in the Raleigh Relays on March 29-30.
