Over the weekend, DBU raced at the Ichabod Invitational on the campus of Washburn University and the GVSU Big Meet at Grand Valley State. In their final meets before the Lone Star Conference Championships, the Lady Patriots came out swinging with multiple school records, translating into a wave of momentum for the next two weeks of training.  

 

With yet another school record, Ellie Frye dominated on the 300m flat track in Allendale, Michigan, taking down her heat of the 800m in convincing fashion. After taking the lead at the 200m mark, she never looked back, cruising her way to a 2:11.90, the 24th-fastest mark in Division II and clear-and-away the DBU school record regardless of season. That was not all for her, however. Frye would come back to run the 400m leg of the DBU DMR, helping the squad run a new school record of 11:54.06. Megan Smith opened the relay with the 1200m, followed by Frye in the 400m, Emme O'Donnell in the 800m and Lesli Salas in the mile. Their total time is 20th-fastest time ran in Division II this year.  

 

Also dominating in the Great Lake State was Salas. In the 3000m, she cut her personal-best mark down to 9:37.35, a 15-second improvement. She also bumped up on the national provisional list, sitting in 27th place. Smith had a great open race as well, running the open mile and bringing her all-time mark to a 5:00.53. In the 5000m, Jenna Howard set a new indoor track personal record of 17:17.36, just one second off her all-time performance. Lastly, Jetzibe Trevino ran 10:17.23 in the 3000m, a new best time in the event.  

 

It was also a record-breaking weekend in Kansas as Kendal Brown took down the indoor track record in the 400m dash with a 58.05. She was not the only DBU runner in her heat, helping pull along Jesse Swan to a 58.41 and Madyson Castellion to 58.91, both personal bests. Abbey Bradshaw also ran a 400m personal best in 1:00.98. Brown returned to the track to finish the evening in the 4x400m relay, blazing through the opening leg in 58.6 seconds. Castellion, Cierra Wheeler, and Swan wrapped the heat up without a doubt, running the school record solo for a 3:54.21.  

 

Other strong performances from the weekend include multiple personal-bests in the 800m from Maddy Seguin (2:17.68) and Mackenzie Bryan (2:19.00). Megan Kirtley and Hannah Salmon both put together their best 5k marks of all-time at 19:04 and 19:34, respectively. Salmon also ran her best 3000m, crossing the finish line in 11:34, as did Cailey Johnson in 11:04. Lastly, Kylie Himes took down her heat of the mile with a commanding 5:10.45, a new personal best for her.  

 

 
UP NEXT 

The regular season for the Lady Patriots is in the books. With two weeks of preparation to come, DBU now turns their eyes to Norman, Oklahoma, the site for the 2023-2024 Lone Star Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships. The two-day event will start on Friday, February 23.