Youth Leads Women’s Track at Penn State Relays

Saturday, January 9

State College, PA

All Day

Army West Point

Penn State Relays

Youth Leads Women’s Track at Penn State Relays

January 09, 2016 | Women's Track and Field

State College, Pa. – The Army West Point women's track and field team placed in the top-five in three events at the Penn State Relays from the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track facility on Saturday.

"The first meet back from break is always interesting because your team departs to all different parts of the world and the rhythm of training is disrupted," said Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mike Smith. "Today was more or less what I expected it to be. We had some outstanding marks from our top performers, some surprises from out younger athletes and some rusty performances."

The Black Knights' best finish of the day came from a youthful 4x800-meter relay team consisting of freshmen Abby Halbrook, Cassie Mundekis and Payton Padgett and sophomore Courtney Dooley. The team finished with a time of 9:07.29, good enough for second place in the event and second on Army's all-time list. Additionally, Halbrook placed fifth in the mile recording a 5:06.90 while senior Lindsay Gabow placed fifth in the 3000-meter run, completing the event in 10:16.21.

"Our plebe and yearling athletes were our stars today," added Smith. "The fact that the 4x800 relay set the second-best mark all-time speaks to the potential of our young athletes."

Nine top-10 finishes belonged to Army on the day, with Haley Winters holding three of them. The Spanaway, Wash., native placed sixth in the 200m dash with a time of 25.38, tying her personal-best from last season's Patriot League Championships, as well as a seventh-place finish in the 60m dash with a time of 7.86 in the finals. She was also a member of the 4x400-meter team that finished in 4:00.75, taking a sixth-place result. Winters is joined on that team by Mundekis, Dooley and Whidney Desormo.

Meagan Hilla, Megan Gemar and Maddie Schneider also missed the top-five by one spot. Hilla took sixth in the high jump with a height of 1.65m while Gemar and Schneider both tied for sixth in the pole vault with a mark of 3.37m. The mark places Schneider at No. 9 on the all-time list while Hilla matched her career-best mark from the Armory Invite from 2015.

Padgett and Lindsay Gabow followed Halbrook's example in the mile with Padgett taking seventh with a time of 5:08.74 and Gabow placing ninth, crossing the finish line at 5:11.02. Briyah Brown also placed 10th in the shot put with a distance of 13.33m.

The Black Knights return to action next Friday, Jan. 15, when they travel to Blacksburg, Va., for the Virginia Tech Invitational with the tournament wrapping on on Saturday, Jan. 16.

For up-to-date information on Army women's track and field visit GoArmyWestPoint.com or follow @ArmyWP_TrackXC on Twitter.