Women’s Track Finishes Fourth at Penn Challenge

Saturday, March 26

Philadelphia, PA

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Army West Point

Penn Challenge

Women’s Track Finishes Fourth at Penn Challenge

March 26, 2016 | Women's Track and Field

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Army West Point women's track and field team finished fourth at the Penn Challenge, scoring 70 points at Franklin Field on Saturday.

"Our throwers continue to improve and compete well," said Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mike Smith. "Briyah and Cody have been throwing very well as of late. Our whole throwing group has been performing very well, and we feel that we are very strong in those events. Brian Bancroft has really done a great job with them."

The host Quakers won the meet with 212 points, while Villanova placed second with 110 points and Rider finishing third with 94 points. The Black Knights finished ahead of Sacred Heart, who scored 42 points as a team.

All three of Army's individual champions came in the field events as Cody Rothschild won the discus, Briyah Brown bested the field in the shot put, and Megan Gemar was victorious in the pole vault.

In the discus, Rothschild recorded the seventh-best mark in Academy history at 45.70m. In the shot put, Briyah Brown's toss reached 14.49m, the third-best mark in program history. In the pole vault, Gemar eclipsed the 3.75m bar. Brown also finished third in discus at 41.09m, while she was joined in the shot put top-five by Carrie Wasdyke who was fourth at 11.98m.

Army's success in the field continued as Meagan Hilla tied the seventh-best high jump in USMA history at 1.64m, placing fourth in the event. The Black Knights also had a pair of top-10 finishes in the javelin as Justine Rennekamp placed seventh with a distance of 33.23m and Shelby Jacob's throw traveled 29.77m.

Rebecca Cousens finished second in the hammer throw with a mark of 47.48m.

The 4x400m relay team of Whidney Desormo, Courtney Dooley, Sydney Hawkins and Cassie Mundekis placed third with a time of 4:03.27. Hawkins also placed fourth in the 100m dash, finishing the sprint in 12.68 seconds.

In the 1500m run, reigning Patriot League Female Rookie of the Week Abby Halbrook placed 10th as she set the sixth-best time in program history at 4:33.88.

Army returns to the track next Saturday, April 2, as the Black Knights host the annual Star Meet against Navy at Shea Stadium.

For more information on Army West Point women's track and field, visit GoArmyWestPoint.com and follow @ArmyWP_TrackXC on Twitter.