BOONE, N.C. - College of Charleston women's track & field set two school records and picked up 17 points on the first day of the Southern Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Appalachian State.
Freshman Jelain McArthur (Laurens, S.C/Laurens District) and junior Mary Zolga (Raynham, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) placed second in the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles, respectively, to qualify for the finals on Sunday. McArthur finished the race in 14.30 seconds, the sixth-fastest time in school history. Zolga's time of 1:03.29 set a new school record, breaking her previous record by 59 hundredths of a second.
McArthur earned points for CofC by finishing sixth in the long jump with a school-record distance of 19'1¼". She surpassed her old school record by more than half a foot. Junior Saskia Kalmeijer (Brussels, Belgium/Pope) also recorded a personal-best jump with a distance of 17'9" to place 13th.
Sophomore Emily Smith (Rock Hill, S.C/Northwestern) was the runner-up in the high jump, tying her season-high performance of 5'7" that she recorded at Duke on Apr. 2.
On the track, sophomore Kristen Wolfe (Midlothian, Va./James River) earned a third-place finish in the steeplechase with a time of 11:21.28.
In the heptathlon, juniors Isabel Boersma (Franklin, Tenn./Ravenwood) and Brynne Johnson (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) sit in third and fourth place, respectively, through five events scored .
Boersma had season-best performances in the 200 meters (25.88) and high jump (5'2½"). Johnson also had a season-best time in the 200 meters (26.77) and recorded a personal-best time of 15.48 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles, shaving half a second off her previous personal record.
Appalachian State currently holds the lead with 43 points while Western Carolina is in second with 24.5 points. Competition resumes tomorrow at 8 a.m. with the first women's event being the shot put at 12:30 p.m.
