BETHLEHEM – Junior Samiyah Little captured the weight throw title, senior Nickolina Annelli surpassed her own school record in the pole vault and the East Stroudsburg University women's track and field team sits in second place following the opening day of the 2024 PSAC Indoor Championships on Sunday at Rauch Fieldhouse.
The Warriors registered 35.5 points, trailing first-place Slippery Rock, who totaled 59 points after six events were scored. Millersville (30) sits half a point behind ESU in third, Seton Hill (30) is fourth and defending PSAC champion Shippensburg (27.5) is fifth.
On her first attempt of the day, Little launched the weight 17.38m (57-0 ¼) to secure the third title overall and first in program history since 2014 when Elizabeth Madden went back-to-back (2013). The indoor title is the first for the Warriors as a team since Tatiana Williams won the triple jump in 2020.
For the second time in as many weeks, Annelli surpassed her own program record in the pole vault as the Lansdale native vaulted over the bar at 3.73m (12-2 ¾) on her first attempt. Annelli's previous best-height of 3.70m (12-1 ½) was recorded at the DeSchriver Invitational (2/4) and among NCAA Division II rankings she is 37th.
Additionally, Destiny Thompson clocked an NCAA provisional time in 60m dash as the graduate student crossed the line in a season-best 7.65. Thompson advanced to tomorrow's final in both the 60m and 200m.
Bri Hennett continued to rewrite the record books as the Northumberland native lowered her freshman school record time in the 5000m while also finishing as the runner-up in the event after crossing the line in 17:44.89.
Pentathlon Highlights
Elyssa Pemu turned in a career-best performance in the pentathlon as the senior scored 3021 points, the eighth most all-time in school history, to finish ninth overall in the event.
Beginning the pentathlon with the 60m hurdles, Pemu took 13th overall after clocking a personal-best time of 9.91 in Heat 1.
Turning her attention to the high jump, Pemu finished in a tie for fourth place as she eclipsed the bar at a personal-best height of 1.59m (5-2 ½). The South Park native continued the field events with a 12th place finish in the shot put as she launched the spherical ball 8.49m (27-10 ¼).
Moving to sand pit for the long jump, Pemu leaped 4.74m (15-6 ¾) on her final attempt for an 11th place finish.
Closing out the pentathlon in the 800m, Pemu turned on the burners as she clocked a career-best time of 2:33.69 to take fourth overall and ultimately ninth in the event.
Running Highlights
Alongside Hennett on the podium in the 5000m was fellow classmate Peyton Falkenstein, who notched a sixth-place finish as the freshman ran a personal-best time of 18:17.79.
Running an NCAA provisional and season-best time of 7.65 in the 60m dash, Thompson finished second in Heat 1 and third overall to move on to tomorrow's finals. Shippensburg's Leah Graybill clocked the fastest time in the preliminaries at 7.60. Thompson was back on the track for the 200m as she took third overall and second in Heat 4 with a time of 25.56.
The Warriors put together an impressive performance in the DMR as the quartet of Carla Bautista, Chloe Domurat, Hannah Skelly and Holly Chambers clocked a season-best time of 12:40.62 to finish sixth and earn three points for ESU.
Field Highlights
On her way to a first-place finish in the weight throw and 10 team points for the Warriors, Little cleared the runner-up's mark by more than four feet. Sophomore Sarah Roth took fifth with a personal-best toss of 14.73m (48-4) on her third attempt and junior Madison Horahan was 10th with a season-best mark of 14.07m (46-2).
Annelli ultimately took third place in the pole vault as the senior cleared the bar at a program record height of 3.73m (12-2 ¾) on her first attempt. Fellow classmate Heather Gaughran finished in a tie for seventh place as she eclipsed 3.43m (11-3) to earn 1.5 team points and freshman Reece Ruggerio (13th – 3.13m) made her PSAC debut.
