SELINSGROVE, PA – The Susquehanna women's track and field team wrapped up a strong showing at the Landmark Conference Championships finishing fourth overall on the second and final day of competition. The team recorded 89.5 points, meeting the expectations beset upon them in the Landmark's Pre-Championship Poll, where they were also positioned fourth. This was thanks in part to two first-place finishes Sunday, coming from thrower Ainslee Binkley with a new personal best in the javelin with a winning throw of 39.62 meters and senior Hannah Alderfer capturing the 100-meter hurdles with a season-best 14.90 seconds.
The day began with the 3000-meter steeplechase, where first-year Ava Warner placed tenth with a time of 12:45.17 and sophomore EmmaLia Ciccarello running a season-best 13:15.58. In the 4x100-meter relay, the quartet of senior Addison Yaukey, junior Ashley Newman, and seniors Liza Levin and Chloe Yoder posted a time of 49.97 seconds to secure a fourth-place finish. Alderfer followed up her 100H performance by running the 400-meter hurdles, where she placed fifth in a time of 1:06.47. Sophomore Denicia German notched a personal best in the same event with a time of 1:10.32.
The 800-meter run featured a strong team effort, led by sophomore Victoria Urbaez, who recorded a personal best of 2:19.06 to finish sixth. Senior Liza Levin followed closely behind in seventh, also with a PR of 2:19.12. Sophomores Gabby Howe (2:27.39) and Katie Wojton (2:28.27) each registered personal bests as well. In the 5000-meter run, sophomore Sophia Bostwick, coming off flashes of brilliance Saturday with a fourth-place finish in the 10,000 meters and fifth place in the pole vault, rounded out her weekend placing ninth with a time of 19:15.97. This was followed by senior Rebekah Jones in tenth at 19:19.49. The 4x400-meter relay team of Newman, Urbaez, Wojton, and Levin closed the track events with a season-best time of 4:07.73.
The throwing areas became a position of power for the River Hawks, especially with the marks set in the morning's javelin throw. Following Binklee's top throw in the event was sophomore Bella Dauberman finishing second with a PR of 35.56 meters, while sophomore Keira Carbone earned fifth place with a PR of 33.43 meters and junior Paulina Biagioni eighth with a PR of 31.22 meters. In the discus, junior Rebecca Cree threw 33.12 meters. German also competed in the triple jump, finishing sixth with a mark of 10.52 meters. In the high jump, sophomore Charlotte Houle cleared a season-best 1.48 meters to place fourth.
Ahead of Susquehanna in the standings was Scranton in third with 131.5 points, Catholic second with 139.5 points, and Moravian capturing the team title with 172.5 points. The Greyhounds reclaimed the team championship after a two-year hiatus from Susquehanna's 2023 victory and Catholic's 2024 win after winning every Landmark title from 2008 to 2022.
Ahead for many of the women's track and field student-athletes are the All-Atlantic Region Track & Field (AARTFC) Championships, hosted by Williams College (Mass.) May 14-15. The week after is the NCAA Division III National Championships, set to be run May 22-25 at Geneva, Ohio's SPIRE Institute.
