Vanderbilt Track and Field started its outdoor season by splitting up and taking on three meets: the Bobcat Invitational, Texas Relays and Raleigh Relays. The distance runners headed to Raleigh, while the field athletes and sprinters were in Texas, split between Austin and San Marcos. 

There were a few standout performances for the season’s first meet, but the performances were relatively quiet for the team as a collective.

Field

At the Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos, Vanderbilt entered into the shot put, high jump, pole vault, triple jump and long jump. In the shot put, junior Sarah Marvin placed 12th with her toss of 14.67 meters. Sophomore Rowan Houston was the only Commodore to participate in the high jump. She cleared the 1.56-meter height on her first attempt but failed to clear the 1.61-meter jump after that, and her efforts landed her in 31st place. 

Like Houston, first-year Jacqueline Rose was the only Vanderbilt athlete to participate in her event: the pole vault. Rose easily sailed over the 3.45-meter height but struggled to clear the 3.60-meter, ending her meet in 13th place. Sophomore Anaya Webster was the lone Commodore in the long jump, and by clearing 5.72 meters she placed 12th in the event, winning the tiebreaker against a Buffalo athlete, Kara Moran.

The team entered three athletes in the triple jump: first-years Pryncess Jackson, Anya Carey and Webster. Despite leading the Commodores at the meet with a mark of 11.99 meters, Webster placed 18th. Jackson jumped 11.95 meters, landing her just outside the top 20 in 21st place. Carey’s attempt of 11.51 meters landed her in 30th place. 

Track

The sprinting team’s performances were split between the Bobcat Invitational, where it participated in the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles, and the Texas Relays, where it participated in the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles and the 4×100 and 4×400 relay.

In the Bobcat invitational 100-meter hurdles finals, juniors Santana Spearman and Taylor McKinnon and sophomore Marta Sivina swept the podium. Spearman led the Commodores with a time of 13.87 and finished in first place. Sivina followed with a time of 13.98, and McKinnon’s 14.20 placed her in third. First-year Isabella Dagrosa was the only Commodore to participate in the Bobcat Invitational 400-meter hurdles, where her 1:00.05 was a personal best and 11th overall. The team also participated in the same races in Austin, yet found less success. Santana Spearman ran a 13.61 in the preliminary heat in the Texas Relays but failed to qualify for the finals. McKinnon also ran a faster time of 13.83 but did not qualify. First-year Devin Parham raced alongside Sivina in the timed final, and the pair placed 11th and 13th, respectively. In the 400-meter hurdles, Falon Spearman had the sixth-fastest time in the preliminary competition, 57.85. In the finals, she ran 58.62, earning her an eighth-place finish.

The Commodores also competed in the 4×100 relay race with a team composed of senior Ella Escobar, junior Madyson Wilson, junior Joy Moorer and first-year Josie Donelson. The team ran a 47.36, which was not fast enough to qualify for the finals. Wilson, Moorer and Donelson, along with junior Allyria McBride, also raced in the 4×400, where their time of 3:40.47 qualified for the finals — but the team did not participate in the finals.

While the sprint team was in Texas, the distance team headed to Raleigh for the Raleigh Relays, where they raced in the 1500-meter, 5000-meter and 10000-meter races. Senior Julia Rosenberg, who had just come off a strong indoor season, opened her outdoor season by taking 13th place in the 1500 with a time of 4:17.63. Senior Gigi Clifford was the only Commodore in the 10-kilometer race. She ran a personal best of 35:37.90, but her efforts left her just out of the top 50 in 52nd place. 

Vanderbilt started three athletes in the 5000-meter race. Graduate student Ellie Wolski ran a 16:28.46, which placed her 57th among contestants. Senior Cameron Fawcett ran a 16:52.11. Alongside Wolski and Fawcett, graduate student Ella Lambert also ran the 5-kilometer race, finishing with a time of 17:09.86.

Vanderbilt Track and Field will continue its season at the Florida Relays in Gainesville from April 4-5.