COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall women's track & field team capped an outstanding weekend with 90 total team points as the Diplomats placed fifth at the Centennial Conference Outdoor Championships. That finish marked the team's highest placement at a full conference championship since the 2011 season. It was the also the second-highest point total F&M has scored at the conference championship in history school history, finishing only behind the 1995 team who scored 105 points.
The Diplomats added 11 scoring performances to their three-day total on Sunday. Eight of those performances went down as new additions to the school's top-10 record book. Christline Edward certainly had a busy day, earning a pair of individual All-Centennial Conference honors. She took the silver in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.76 and claimed bronze during the 100 meter hurdles. Her time of 16.41 seconds in the 100 hurdles is the fifth-fastest time in school history.
June Sanchez added another silver medal to the team's haul with her time of 2:15.36 in the 800 meters. That time is the fourth-quickest in school history and ranks among the top 50 in Division III this season. Alysse Danyi was eighth in that same event (2:25.47). Elizabeth O'Connell added another bronze medal to F&M's count during the 1,500 meters with her time of 4:42.61, ranking her third in school history. Lexi Salerno finished fifth during that event (4:44.11), posting the fourth-fastest time in school history.
Franklin & Marshall closed the meet with a bronze in the 4x400 meter relay as Sydney Dzenutis, Sanchez, Laura Greene, and Edward finished with the fifth-quickest time in school history (4:01.11). The 4x100 relay of Edward, Abby Lienhard, Hope Petralia, and Tatum Evans took fifth place with the seventh-fastest relay mark in school history (51.26).
Other personal bests that fell on the track included Emma Kline finishing fourth in the 5,000 meters, with a huge personal-best time of 18:15.52. That mark ranks fifth in school history. Dzenutis finished seventh in the 400 meter championship (1:00.48), making her the seventh-fastest individual in school history. Emma Steffan also scored in the field events, taking eighth in the shot put as her best throw was measured at 11.08 meters.
As the Centennial Conference Championships wrapped up on Sunday, the Diplomats will now explore last chance meet options as they look to continue to improve their record-breaking season with more personal bests that could qualify individuals to compete at the NCAA Division III National Championships.
