Women's indoor track: William Woods finishes fourth in Illinois

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - The Lady Owls kicked their season off with a fourth-place finish out of 17 teams at the Illinois College Snow Bird Open on Saturday.

William Woods University totalled 64.5 points. Columbia College ran away in first place with 124 points, Truman State University came in second with 85, and Missouri Baptist managed to edge out the Lady Owls with 68.5 points.

Sophomore Megan Van Harn's seventh-place throw of 11.31 meters in the shot put for the Lady Owls came in as the second-best mark in school history.

Van Harn would make up for it in the 1,600-meter relay as she, sophomore Kristine Treijis, senior Anna Houston and freshman Harley Nale roared to a second place finish with a time of 4 minutes, 17.5 seconds. Central Methodist University barely nudged the Lady Owls in 4:16.8.

William Woods wouldn't be denied a first-place finish in the high jump as Houston prevailed with a leap of 1.57 meters. Van Harn was fifth at 1.47.

Houston also took second in the 60 hurdles in :09.58 and Van Harn finished fifth in :09.9.

Senior Madelyn Scrivner earned another title for the Lady Owls as she won the weight throw with a toss of 15.16. Scrivner also finished fourth in the shot at 11.76.

William Woods had three runners finish inside the top 10 in the 400. Freshman Naomi Kerkula came in sixth in 1:04.7, senior Jessica Mclhenney finished eighth in 1:06.8, and freshman Jaclyn McMurtry - a North Callaway graduate - was ninth in 1:07.2.

Sophomore Abagayle Bartlett secured a third-place finish in the pole vault with an American Midwest Conference-best leap of 2.8.

The Lady Owls' 800 relay of Kerkula, Treijis, freshman Courtney Richardson and junior Justice Miller took third in 1:55.7.

William Woods competes at the Principia (Illinois) College Relays on Friday and Saturday.