TAMPA, Fla. - Army track and field opened its outdoor season on Friday at the Bulls Invitational hosted by the University of South Florida. The non-team-scoring meet featured over 1,000 entrants from over 20 schools and clubs from around the country.
Highlighting the two-day event were five marks added to the Black Knight women's all-time top-10 lists. Leading the way was sophomore thrower Jessica Waggoner. Waggoner competed in the discus, earning a fifth-place finish with an ECAC-qualifying toss of 46.44 meters. The distance ranks fourth all-time at the Academy and is the best throw by a Black Knight since 2004.
Freshman Laurel Neposchlan rounded out the field event historical marks with her pole vault leap of 3.05 meters. The height ranks tied-for-seventh all-time along with Melina Lee.
On the track, freshman Lisa Junta continued her strong first season in the Black & Gold, racking up her fourth top-10 time. Junta concluded her first indoor season with three top-10 marks (mile; 3,000m; 5,000m) and opened her first outdoor season in similar fashion, collecting the ninth-fastest 1,500-meter run time in Army history. Junta earned 10th place of 61 runners with a finish of 4:39.88.
Classmate Katrina Donarski earned her second top-10 time of the year, running the 10th-best 800 meters in Academy history with her finish of 2:17.28 on Friday. Donarski placed ninth of 44 runners in the event. During the indoor season she ran the 10th-best 500m time in Army history.
Junior Kaitlyn Love rounded out the historical performances for Army, placing eighth of 28 in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.53 seconds. The finish ranks eighth at the Academy.
On the men's side, throwers enjoyed a successful meet, earning two of the men's four postseason qualifying marks. Senior Grady Davis placed fifth of 23 in the discus with an IC4A-qualifying toss of 48.33m, while junior Nick Snoad earned runner-up honors in a field of 29 of the hammer throw with a career-best distance of 57.42m.
Junior Thomas Ryan established a career best in the 110-meter hurdles, punching his ticket to the IC4A Championships with his time of 14.77 seconds. Ryan placed fourth of 15 in the event.
Army will remain on the road for its second outdoor meet of the season when it travels to the University of Virginia on March 24 for the UVA Team Swashbuckle.
