Senior Annie Beecham is one of the unquestioned leaders of the Ohio track and field team, and she added another feat to her decorated career this weekend.
Beecham broke the school record for the 10,000-meter run at the Stanford Invitational Saturday in Palo Alto, Calif. Her time of 34 minutes, 8.23 seconds was six seconds better than the time set by Jackie Conrad in 1998.
Senior Kari Summers also competed in the event and posted a time of 34:53.56.
Freshman Melissa Thompson ran the 5,000-meter run with a time of 17:25.24.
“(Both Beecham’s and Summers’) times should be good enough to qualify for the NCAA Regionals, but we will see how the season goes,” coach Clay Calkins said.
The rest of the Bobcats competed on the opposite side of the country and continued to put names at the top of the standings.
In their first meet of the outdoor season, eight Bobcats secured top-10 finishes. The trend continued this past weekend, as Ohio had 16 top-10 finishes at the Winthrop Invitational in Rock Hill, S.C.
No team scores were kept, but on the first day of competition Ohio’s best event was the 5,000-meter run. Freshman Emily Pifer took first with a time of 17:41.26, and teammates Allison Stillwell, Erica Toussant and Ashley Waddington finished fourth, seventh, and tenth, respectively.
In the hammer throw, three more Bobcats placed in the top-10. The best finish was sophomore Lauren McCullough who came in second with a throw of 45.98 meters.
McCullough finished up the second day with a second place finish in the javelin. Junior Hope McCarty finished in fourth.
“It was great to see the throws open up,” Calkins said.
Calkins said he was happy with the way that his team performed in both meets.
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