The IU women’s track and field team dominated at this weekend’s Hoosier Hills meet because of strong competition between teammates. Nine athletes earned personal bests during Friday’s performances.
Sophomore Megan Grabowski competed in three events this weekend. She said her favorite was the 200-meter dash because she earned a personal record.
Grabowski dropped her time by .17, leaving her with a new personal record of 24.42.
“Since the beginning of the year, I’ve just been getting better as I’ve gone,” Grabowski said. “It was nice to finally do that. And I felt good all the way around, and I felt strong, which I haven’t done sometimes.”
After the race, she quickly went up and high-fived teammate freshman Natalie Price, who also raced in the 200. Price finished just ahead of Grabowski with a personal best of 24.18.
“With Natalie, I want to try and stay with her as long as I can,” Grabowski said. “Crossing the line and both PRing is super fun.”
Grabowski raced at least one other Hoosier in all three of her events this weekend and explained how it offers a sentiment of competition and motivation.
Sophomore Jenna Jungels also had a great deal of experience competing with teammates. On Friday, she faced two fellow Hoosiers in the long jump, as well as one in the 60-meter hurdles.
“We push each other in practice, and at meets, it’s always a fun time being able to have someone to compete with, because I never got that in high school," Jungels said. “I like having them there because they push me when they do well to do better.”
Jungels came in seventh place in the long jump, with a distance of 5.79 meters. She also came in third in the hurdles with a time of 8.71.
“My biggest challenge would definitely be in the long jump because I’ve definitely been having a couple issues that I’ve been trying to fix,” Jungels said. “I took a few steps in the right direction, but I’m still having some things that I want to fix.”
Although Jungels struggled with consistency, freshman Stacy Morozov did not. She competed in the 3000-meter race, alongside Kelsey Harris, who rabbited for the team. Harris led the pack, which pushed her teammate to excel, but dropped out before the race ended.
Morozov finished in second place behind Southeast Missouri State's Sydney O’Brien with a time of 10:16.48. This earned her a personal best, by 17 seconds and 14 hundredths of a second. The race was a huge time improvement for the freshman, as that was her third time competing in the 3,000 at a collegiate level.
The Hoosiers also came away from the meet with two new personal bests in the 1-mile fast race. Freshman Hannah Stoffel led the pack for IU with a first place time and personal best of 4:50.03, followed by freshman Lexa Barrott in second place with a personal best of 4:50.11. Closing out the race for the Hoosiers was freshman Grace Walther, with a sixth place time of 5:03.27.
The women at home were not the only ones who excelled. Junior Maggie Allen also earned a personal best in the 5,000-meter race at the Iowa State Classic, which she attended with senior Brenna Calder and junior Katherine Receveur.
Allen completed the race in seventh place with a time of 15:50.12, dropping more than 40 seconds since her last race.
Overall, the Hoosiers are making strides in the right direction based on their time improvements this week. They will return to the track on Feb. 17 in South Bend to take on a number of teams at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame.
