On Saturday, March 10, the SFU track and field team ended their indoor season at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships in Pittsburg, Kansas. The team performed admirably, with the third-place finish in the distance medley relay (DMR) by Miryam Basset, Renate Bluschke, Alana Mussatto, and Julia Howley undoubtedly being the highlight. Here’s how it went down:
Bassett got things started for SFU in the first leg, keeping SFU in the mix after 400 m in her first DMR for the Clan. In the second leg, Bluschke ran her personal best 400 m, putting in a dominant performance before getting the baton to Mussatto, who ran in the 800 m just a couple hours earlier. Despite this, Mussatto was able to move the Clan up three spots (from seventh place to fourth) in the 400 m stretch. The pressure was then on Howley, the anchor, who kept the Clan in fourth place to end the race, which matched their number four ranking coming into the race. The team would finish in third, however, as Adams State was disqualified, thus moving the Clan up a spot.
Another highlight was Reta Dobie in the 3,000 m, as she ran a personal best 9:41.24 in the race. This would be good for tenth place, an impressive race for the senior in her last indoor competition for SFU.
Disappointingly, however, Oliver Jorgensen was unable to match his personal best time in the mile. He would finish the race with a time of 4:12.93, good for 13th place for the senior. For comparison’s sake, Jorgensen’s personal best time is 4:06.82. As stated by head coach Brit Townsend, however, “[Jorgensen] has had a fantastic season achieving personal best in the mile, 3k and 5K which I know will bode well for the upcoming outdoor season.”
When asked on her thoughts on the meet as a whole, Townsend responded to The Peak with, “I was happy with the meet overall. We had some solid performances and everybody was close or surpassed their ranking when they came in.”
Overall, it was a solid performance for the Clan, who will certainly be happy with the All-American finish by some of their athletes. The team will now turn their heads towards the outdoor season, as the sun starts to come out. Their first outdoor competition will be on March 17, as the team travels down to California to compete in the Sacramento State Hornet Invitational.
