TACOMA, Wash. – Despite athletes taking the weekend off due to Easter break, the Saints still managed top-five finishes at the JD Shotwell Invitational, hosted by UPS, highlighted by first place finishes by Ashleigh Fraser, Megan Vernoy, and Deanna Avalos.
 
COMPLETE RESULTS
 
"Today was another great day for the Saints," said head coach Jim Brewer. "We gave many of our athletes the weekend off being Easter weekend. The ones that competed were not disappointed with the results. Several of our athletes either placed in the top three, set season's records or lifetime bests."
 
In the finals of the 200-meter dash, Artresa Nickelson took sixth overall with a time of 27.46 seconds. Over in the 800-meter race, Yadira Lopez earned five points for SMU with a fourth place finish with a time of 2:25.43 minutes. Lopez also took home third place in the 1500-meter race, breaking the five-minute mark with a time of 4:49.48 minutes. Sadie Dalgleish and Yeshi Vaughan ran each other throughout the whole 5000-meter race, finishing sixth and seventh with times of 19:25.40 and 19:27.19 minutes respectively. In the 400-meter hurdles, Nickelson earned another four points for Saint Martin's with a fifth place finish.
 
"Yeshi Vaughan has had an incredible season so far," Brewer said. "She is one of the most coachable athletes I have worked with. She has been very disciplined about putting in consistent training and it is paying off. Not to be outdone Sadie Dalgleish also ran a PR in the women's 5k. The two athletes were inseparable during the race being very consistent and helping one another along."
 
Cassidy Apo took second overall in the high jump with her mark of 1.49-meters. Ashleigh Fraser won the long jump with her jump of 5.24-meters after hitting 5.30-meters in the seeding round. Fraser also took third in the triple jump after hitting 10.12-meters, one of only three athletes to break the 10-meter mark at the meet. Megan Vernoy also walked away a champion, winning the discus throw after hitting 39.99-meters in the finals and an impressive 43.35-meters in the seeding throws. Deanna Avalos found her form in the javelin, winning the event with a mark of 43.95-meters in the finals while her teammate Sarah Howsden took home sixth in the javelin.
 
Over on the men' side of action, Josh Schulz placed fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.28 seconds, with his teammate Logan Armstrong earning eighth in the same event. Guillaume Tabary earned third in the 400-meter dash while Seth Chism was seventh in the same race. In the 5000-meter race, freshman Miguel De LaMelena was sixth overall with his time of 16:16.80 minutes. In the 400-meter hurdles, Andrew Walter and Zachary Anguay earned fifth and sixth overall in the event. In the 3000-meter steeplechase, Jasper Heckman was second in the field with his time of 9:43.58 seconds, while Levi Schilter was fourth in the event.
 
Cyrus Marshall earned fifth overall in the pole vault after clearing 3.87-meters on his first attempt. Schulz and Tabary also shined in the long jump, taking second and third respectively after hitting marks of 6.72-meters and 6.51-meters in the finals. Patrick O'Connell earned one point in the javelin with an eighth place finish.
 
In the team standings, the women took fourth overall out of 14 teams with 70 points while the men finished fifth at 56 points.