ITHACA, N.Y. -- Houghton Indoor Track & Field finished off their regular season Saturday at the Empire 8 Conference Championships, hosted by Ithaca College.
The women's team finished 6th and the men's team finished 7th.
"The team really came to compete today," Head Coach Patrick Hager said. "The intensity and team morale were very high."
The highlight of the day was the women's distance medley relay (DMR) team of Rebekah White, Kate Taggart, Nikki Garns, and Joanna Friesen winning their event with a time of 12:37.01. Their win, which qualifies them for the NCCAA Championships, is only the second conference title earned by Houghton since joining the Empire 8.
"These four girls really set the tone for our team and are very special," Coach Hager remarked.
The members of the women's DMR would go on to have strong performances in other events, all under the qualifying standards for the NCCAA Championships. White came in 6th in the 800m with a time of 2:25.59, followed closely by Taggart in 8th with a personal best of 2:26.83. Garns took 4th in the 200m with a personal best of 27.04 seconds, and Joanna Friesen ran a lifetime best of 18:59.89 in the 5000m to take 8th.
Nikki Fink came into the meet seeded 7th in the 60 hurdles, but ended up finishing 6th with a time of 10.02 seconds in the finals, after running a strong 9.91 in the preliminaries. Off the track, Fiona Daloia tied her personal best of 2.90m in the pole vault to take 7th.
At the end of the meet, Garns, White, and Daloia combined with Kasey Cannister to take 6th in the 4x400m relay.
On the men's side, the 4x200m relay team of Cory McCarty, John Zamites, Austin Andryshak, and Chris Roe came in second with a time of 1:37.46, qualifying them for the NCCAA Championships. McCarty also ran the 800m, finishing 7th in a season-best and NCCAA qualifying-mark of 1:59.91, despite running out of a slower heat.
Malik Bullock missed the finals of the men's triple jump by a mere 7 centimeters, after running the 200m in a very strong time of 24.29 seconds.
A total of 17 Highlanders achieved personal bests, which, according to Coach Hager, is "really what you hope for in a championship meet."
The Highlanders travel to Indiana Wesleyan University next weekend to conclude their season at the NCCAA National Championships.