Lady Birds Finish 3rd In Savannah

By: Dean Thompson, Women's Cross Country & Track Coach

Women's Track & Field | 2/28/2021 10:31:00 PM

SAVANNAH, Ga. - The Dalton State Lady Roadrunners traveled to Savannah, Ga. to compete in the Savannah State Eyeopener Invitational on Saturday. They managed to score 98 points and finish a more than respectable 3rd overall in the meet behind Benedict College from Columbia, South Carolina and host Savannah State.

RECAP
The Roadrunners were paced by wins from freshman Riley Ford (3,000 Meter Steeplechase), freshman Briana Ray (Pole Vault), sophomore Kathryn Vradenburgh (1500 Meter Run), and junior Alex Gass (5000 Meter Run).

The Lady Birds swept the first three places in two events. The first occasion was in the 3,000 Meter Steeplchase with Ford, Sophomore Haley Tillery, and Junior Rebecca Poe. Later in the afternoon Gass, Senior Kay Vradenburgh, and Ford swept the 5,000 Meter run.

Three school records fell to three freshmen as well. Riley Ford's 12:23 in the Steeplechase was 5 seconds faster than the three year-old best, and it was Ford's first time she had ever run the event. Not long after that, Briana Ray set the Pole Vault record when she cleared 7 feet. Later in the afternoon, Suzana Rivera broke the Discus school record by 10 feet when she threw 88 feet 7 inches.

Some other notable performances on the day were Gass (5:17), Kay Vradenburgh (5:22), and sophomore Kate Roberts (5:27) finishing 3,4,5 in the 1500 Meter Run behind Kathryn's 4:59. Freshman Kayla Mattox was 7^th (5:43)

Also participating in the meet were Vanessa Rivera in the 4X100 Meter Relay and Rachel Ward in the 800M and 1500M. Mattox, also ran the 200 Meter Dash. The team of Rivera, Mattox, Poe, and Ray competed in the 4X100 Meter Relay, but some handoff issues caused a fault and a subsequent disqualification. It was the first time the event had ever been contested by a Dalton State team.

The Roadrunners placed 4^th and 5^th in the 4X400 Meter Relay. The team of Poe, Gass, Tillery, and Ford just held off a hard charging Vradenburgh, Mattox, Roberts, and Vradenburgh crew. The difference was less than a second as Riley Ford held off Kathryn Vradenburgh who came from way back to make it close.

QUOTES FROM COACH
Comments from Coach Dean Thompson:
"It was a solid first meet. We had some outstanding performances and some not-so-great results, but all in all, we learned some things about what we can do to improve next time out. In addition, our distance team has worked crazy hard over the past three weeks and were not rested for this meet. It showed up in the second performances from most of them. But nearly everyone had at least one really strong effort. What more can we ask?"

"It was great to see Riley run so well in an event she has never done. She had never even seen a Steeplechase barrier before today! Then watching Bri fly over the pole vault bar for the first time in school history was special. Not much later, Kathryn ran a super strong last lap of the 1500 to crush the field running a full 18 seconds faster than the one who was leading going into the last lap. It was dominating."

"Maybe the most solid day of all, considering where she was coming into the meet, was Kate Roberts. She ran all three of her events well. And of course, Alex is so quiet, but she goes to work when the gun goes off. It was really special watching her put a hurting on the 5,000 Meter field. And that was after finishing third in the 1500 Meter Run.'

"Both Gass and Ford scored 16 points and were on the 4^th place 4X400 team."

"Suzana is really close to being a really special contributor in the Discus. She broke the school record by a significant margin, but I believe there is a lot more there."

"It is good to have a few things that we need work on too and we'll get better in the areas where we were not quite where we thought we were."

"One thing never seems to change. These ladies are special people. They represent our school in a way that makes me proud to be their coach. They compete hard, but they do it a way always lifts others up. A good example of that was watching Vanessa cheer really hard for Kayla to break her 200 Meter school record. She just missed it, but just knowing that Vanessa wanted her to break it was a picture of the heart of our team."

UP NEXT
The distance Lady Birds will be back in action next week in Tallahassee Fla. as they get ready for the NAIA Cross Country Championship in April. The next full track meet will be in three weeks in Myrtle Beach, S.C. at the Alan Connie Shamrock Invitational on March 18-20.

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