Beggs wins 5,000, Buehler second in 400 at Fred Wilt Invitational
Anderson, Ind. – The Griffins track team had an outstanding weekend to cap off the main part of their indoor season this weekend at the Fred Wilt Invitational hosted by Anderson University. Following last weekend's exciting performances by the sprints group, the entire team made the trip to Indiana ready to compete.
Six Griffins posted personal bests. Olivia Beggs gave a tremendous effort to win the women's 5,000-meter run in a time of 19:12.99. Beggs came through one mile in 6:06, running controlled at the back of a tight group of eight women. With 800m to go, Beggs and an athlete from Centre College had a gap on the rest of the field. The 25 lap event came down to a sprint finish, with Beggs taking the win by 0.2 seconds. The fastest time of Beggs' career is now second in Fontbonne record books in the 5k.
Rebecca Buehler lowered her own school record and took second in the women's 400-meter dash in a time of 61.20 seconds. Buehler's time was faster than her outdoor personal best from last season, and 0.8 seconds faster than her winning effort from Illinois College a week ago.
Claire Becker also posted a personal best in the 5,000, running 20:56.77. In the 800-meter run, Annie McKenzie improved by four seconds to run 2:50.08. In her second effort at 400-meters, Taylor McGowen ran 1.6 seconds faster to run 68.26 seconds. Earning athlete-of-the-meet honor for the Griffins was sophomore Grace Poindexter, who fearlessly ran a 22 second personal best in the 3,000-meter, aided by teammate Cathy Maschmeyer at her side.
Posting solid performances, Gabi Cruts ran 8.55 seconds in the 60-meter dash and 29.56 in the 200-meter dash. Kelly Mundwiller had a frustrating day in the shot put, throwing 8.47 meters. Cristian Sellars had to jump over multiple athletes who fell in the third lap of his 800-meter race, and finished in a time of 2:11.40. Justin Horneker ran 16:24.01 in the men's 5,000-meter.
A handful of athletes will compete this Friday, March 6th, at the Carthage College Last Chance meet in Kenosha, Wis.