Elon Women's Track and Field claims second straight CAA Championship

The Elon University women’s track and field team earned its second straight Colonial Athletic Association outdoor track and field title as the Phoenix repeated as league champions on its home track at the Jerry and Jeanne Robertson Track and Field Complex on Saturday, May 7.

Elon scored a conference program-record 193 points at the meet – the most points at the CAA Championships since 2005. The Phoenix also had four individuals capture event titles in Jayna Coyle (triple jump), Emily Dixon (heptathlon), Jen Esposito (400-meter hurdles) and Sydney Griffin (200-meter dash, 100-meter hurdles). Elon also won championships in the 4×100-meter and the 4×400-meter relays with both squads setting new school-records in the process. Overall, the Phoenix had seven event titles and 12 individual All-CAA athletes during the two-day meet.

Griffin was named the Most Outstanding Track Performer of the Meet after the Marietta, Ga., native won multiple conference championships in the 100-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash as an individual. In the 100-meters, Griffin clocked a 13.81 in the race while Dixon also garnered All-CAA honors in the event with her third-place finish with her time of 14.35. Griffin then went on to outlast Towson’s Zanae Freeland in the 200-meters with her time of 24.69 while Desiree Ross was fourth in the race at 25.20.

Both Griffin and Ross along with Esposito and Simone Jackson aided the Phoenix’s 4×100-meter relay team to a school-record 45.91 in the race to win league honors. Esposito then successfully defended her 400-meter hurdles title as the Mansfield, Mass., native set a new CAA record in the race with her time of 58.50. Elon went swept the podium in the event as Lydia Laws ran a 1:00.63 as the runner-up followed by senior Samantha Brown edging out Towson’s Megan Kelly in third with her new personal-record of 1:01.22.

Dixon also successfully defended her league championship in the heptathlon as the Bath, England, native concluded the meet with 5,059 points – extending her school record. Dixon, who won the first four events of the heptathlon on Friday, May 6, was the runner-up in the long jump at 17’ 7” (5.36m) while finishing with fourth-place standings in the javelin throw (31.36m) and the 800-meters (2:26.70) on Saturday.

Coyle recorded the second-best mark in school history in the triple jump to earn her first conference championship. The Somerset, Pa., native had a leap of 40’ 6” (12.34m) in the event while teammate Carrie Abraham was the runner-up with her leap of 40’ 2.75” (12.26m), also a new personal-best for the junior.

Elon’s 4×400-meter relay team of Esposito, Laws, Ross and Lauren Brzozowski closed out the meet with a school-record time of 3:43.32.

Bryanna Hames was the runner-up in the discus throw with her personal-best heave of 171’ 6” (52.27m), also extending her school record. She also was third in the shot put with a toss of 45’ 7.75” (13.91m). Kimberly Johansen was the runner-up in the 1,500-meter run with her time of 4:23.33 while Brigid Brennan also scored for the Phoenix in the race with her time of 4:35.49. Johansen was later third in the 800-meter run with her time of 2:12.48.

Griffin garnered another All-CAA honor in the 100-meter dash as the runner-up with her time of 12.00 while Ross was Elon’s highest finisher in the 400-meter dash at her time of 54.93. The Phoenix also had another runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as Tereza Novotna clocked a season-best time of 10:25.28 in the race.

Elon has one more meet on it schedule, the Aggie Last Chance Meet, next Sunday, May 15, before the NCAA East Preliminaries in Jacksonville, Fla., on May 26 for those who qualify.