The Vanderbilt Track and Field team traveled to College Station, Texas, for the SEC Indoor Championship from Feb. 27 to March 1. Throughout the indoor season, veterans excelled and first-years showed promise. Championship weekend was no different; however, the team only scored 13 points to tie with Missouri for 14th place. 

Track

Junior Marta Sivina competed in the pentathlon with first-year Devyn Parham. Both of the athletes posted numerous personal bests throughout the five events. Sivina had a personal best in the 800-meter race with 2:17.03. She also cleared 1.75 meters in the high jump, the fifth-highest jump in school history. Her numerous efforts earned her 4,174 points, fourth place in the championship and the second-highest score in program history. Parham’s personal bests in the 800 meters and long jump helped propel her to a point total of 3,963, which slid her into seventh place in the championship.

Director of cross country and track and field Althea Thomas spoke to the potential the team showed in Parham’s strong performance as a first-year.

“We have an amazing freshman class, and to have [Parham] come into her freshman year — her second time doing a pentathlon, and [put] her best foot forward [and set a personal record] in three of five events — just says a lot about her as an athlete and her adaptation,” Thomas said. “It says a lot about the coaches she works with — coach Justin Byron and coach Harold Rose. It also says a lot about the future of our program.”

Other short distance races Vanderbilt participated in were the 200-meter, 400-meter and 60-meter hurdles races. Graduate transfer Tina Benzinger ran a personal best in the 200 meters in 23.82. This failed to gain her any SEC accolades but was enough to make her performance the second-fastest time in program history. Junior Allyria McBride was the only Commodore to compete in the 400-meter race, and her time of 53.69 seconds placed her in 25th place. In the 60-meter hurdles, Vanderbilt sported three junior athletes — Falon Spearman, Santana Spearman and Taylor McKinnon. Fallon Spearman placed 10th in the preliminaries with a time of 8.21 seconds, but all three fell short of qualifying for the final.

On the distance side of the team, senior Julia Rosenberg was the star. Rosenberg started her championship weekend by racing in the mile preliminaries with junior Audrey Allman and graduate Ella Lambert. Rosenberg took third in the preliminaries with a time of 4:41.18. Allman and Lambert both fell short of making the final despite Lambert running a career-best of 4:48.13. Rosenberg would follow up her preliminary performance by taking fifth in the final. Her final time was a bit slower, as she ran a 4:41.47. To round out the distance performance, graduate Ellie Wolski took to the 3000-meter race, running the No. 6 time in program history with a 9:31.06. She finished in 16th place. 

Vanderbilt also sported a distance medley relay team that consisted of Rosenberg, Allman, McBride and Wolski. The squad finished in seventh place and broke the school’s all-time record at 11:13.61.

Field

Vanderbilt participated in only two field events: the high jump and the shot put. Senior Sarah Marvin was the only Commodore in the shot put, throwing her season best at 14.84 meters. She ended her weekend in 16th place. Sivina participated in the regular high jump event and cleared 1.73 meters, which represented a personal best for the junior.

Thomas had numerous praises for Rosenberg.

“I think one of the best representations of what it means to Anchor Down is in Julia Rosenberg. She ran three miles over the span of three days, and in each [race] competed hard to put our team in a place to score in the DMR, qualifying in the mile prelims and then running a courageous mile final,” Thomas said. “She embodies what it means to be a Commodore from her growth over the last four years and how she represents us every day.”

Vanderbilt Track and Field will get to rest for a bit as it prepares for the outdoor season. It will be back in action in a split doubleheader in the Texas Relays hosted by the University of Texas at Austin and the Raleigh Relays hosted by North Carolina State University on March 27.