Shippensburg University hosted the SU Invitational this past Wednesday at Seth Grove Stadium. The women’s team not only broke school records, but also picked up several new conference qualifiers in the process.

SU junior Tamara Ovejera broke the school’s discus record to give her a second school record in a matter of five days. She had broken the record on Saturday only to set the bar higher on Wednesday. Ovejera won the event Wednesday with a throw of 146 feet, 9 inches. Along with winning the discus event, she took the shot put event with a throw of 46 feet, 2 3/4 inches. Her throw for the shot put was enough for an NCAA provisional qualifier — ranking her 16th in all of NCAA Division II. Despite only placing second in the hammer throw, she made a new personal best of 169 feet, 7 inches. With her new personal best, Ovejera erased the record of Steph Harrison (169 feet, 5 inches) from 2010.

The other first-place finisher was sophomore Crystal Hartman — who had a season best in the javelin with a throw of 141 feet, 4 inches. The season-best also qualified her for the NCAA provisional rankings where she moved up to No. 26 on the list of national performances. Hartman will seek to use the performance to build toward her second-straight national championship appearance.

In other thrower highlights, senior Heather Bolick improved her season best in the javelin to 128 feet, 6 inches. Sophomore Sabrina Johnson also finished the day with two new bests. Johnson placed a new outdoor best in the shot put, throwing 40 feet, 2 3/4 inches and landing a season-best in the discus with 125 feet, 6 inches.

Over at the jump pits, junior Sarah Hunt once again landed a 6-meter mark. With a jump of 19 feet, 9 3/4 inches in the long jump, Hunt was only 2 1/2 inches shy of her school-record personal best. In the triple jump, Hunt had a top mark of 38 feet, 11 1/2 inches, while freshman Abby Wagner improved her league rankings to seventh with her collegiate personal best of 37 feet, 7 1/4 inches. Also notable in the long jump was Danielle Sciremammano with a jump of 18 feet, 2 1/4 inches.

Additionally, in the long jump, freshman Erica Helm and sophomore Alyssa Stitch picked up PSAC qualifiers in the long jump with marks of 17 feet, 4 inches and 17 feet, 2 3/4 inches, respectively.

In the pole vault, junior Emily Wicker notched a PR by clearing the bar at 11 feet, 1 3/4 inches.

At the high jump, three Raiders notched new PSAC qualifying marks.

Junior Samantha Johnson cleared 5 feet, 3 1/4 inches, while Helm cleared 5 feet, 2 1/4 inches.

Two-time All-PSAC East volleyball player for the Raiders, sophomore Maura Nolan made her debut for SU track and field on Wednesday. She had a PSAC qualifying jump of 5 feet, 2 1/4 inches.

Sophomore Kayla Lawson moved to No. 7 in the PSAC 100-meter event with a run of 14.93 seconds. Lawson made two PRs in hurdles with her 100 and 400-meter event. Lawson completed the 400-meter hurdles in 1:05.82. The winner of the 400-meter hurdles for the Raiders was freshman Tatiana Purnell, who improved her time with a mark of 1:04.70.

Sophomore Kiana Tucker made her season debut in the 400-meter run by winning the event with a time of 57.66 seconds. The time ranks her No. 4 in the PSAC. All three of SU’s 400-meter runners posted new season bests. Tucker and senior Megan Lundy finished at 57.73 seconds, while sophomore Jill Bertino clocked in at 59.48 seconds.

Also notching season bests were freshman Allison King and redshirt-freshman Colleen Troutman in the 100-meter run. King won with a time of 12.46 seconds, while Troutman took third in 12.77 seconds.

Shippensburg will have a select group competing at the Penn Relays on April 29-30 while the rest of the team hosts the Paul Kaiser Classic on Saturday, April 30, at Seth Grove Stadium. 

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