Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championship Preview

Posted: May 05, 2023

The 2023 Centennial Conference Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships will take place Friday, May 5 through Sunday, May 7 at Patterson Field on the campus of Ursinus. The three-day event will begin Friday afternoon and feature 21 events on both the men's and women's sides.

Johns Hopkins is once again the favorite behind a 12-year winning streak and a national ranking of No. 5 entering the Centennial meet. At the 2022 meet at Ursinus, the Blue Jays secured gold in 11 of 22 events en route to a 253-point team total to win by more than 100 points. Hopkins owns the most CC titles (12) in conference history, followed by Dickinson (5), Haverford (5), Gettysburg (4), Muhlenberg (1) and Swarthmore (1).

The Blue Jays are ranked first in the Mid-Atlantic Region and one of six CC squads in the top-10 of the regional rankings. Dickinson is sixth in the Mid-Atlantic while Swarthmore (7th, Metro), Ursinus (8th, Metro), Haverford (9th, Metro) and Gettysburg (10th, Mid-Atlantic) are also ranked top-10 regionally.

JHU's tandem of Lauren Phillips and Victoria Kadiri will look to lead the Blue Jays this weekend after stellar spring campaigns thus far. The indoor Athletes of the Year in the CC, Phillips and Kadiri both set new conference records this spring. Phillips set a new standard in the 400 (55.46) while Kadiri broke her own record in the triple jump (12.82m). Kadiri is the defending national champion in both the triple jump and long jump. She will vie for repeat titles in the triple jump, long jump and 100-meter dash while also competing in the javelin and 100 hurdles. Phillips will try to repeat in the 400 while also competing for gold in the 200.

In addition to their new CC records, Kadiri and Phillips also landed in the all-time top-10 list in other events. Phillips raced to the third-fastest 200m (24.84) and 100m (12.14) times in Centennial history, while Kadiri registered the third-best heptathlon score (4635).

A number of other athletes have recorded top-10 all-time CC marks this spring. Swarthmore's Adria Retter owns the second-best marks in the hammer (49.49m), shot put (14.14m) and discus (49.87m), and will vie for gold in all three events this weekend. Ursinus' Isabelle Deal also posted mutliple top-10 marks in the throws (45.26m javelin, 3rd all-time and 13.04m shot put, 7th all-time). Haverford's Kayla Robinson registered top-10 all-time marks in the jumps just last week, claiming the sixth-best long jump mark (5.67m) and eighth-best triple jump mark (11.46m). Dickinson's Darya Mikusova posted the second-fastest 400 hurdles time (1:01.90), JHU's Sara Stephenson owns the third-best 3,000m Steeplechase time (10:37.99), Swarthmore's Rose Teszler ran the sixth-fastest 800 (2:10.61), JHU's Sarah-Caulley Soto recorded the sixth-best pole vault in CC history (3.49m), JHU's Taryn Silvernale secured the eighth-best high jump mark (1.63m), and Dickinson's Sara Penuela ran the seventh-fastest 100-meter dash (12.31).

Champions in 16 different events return to the meet this weekend, including four looking to three-peat. JHU's Julia Zambo (hammer) and Kadiri (long jump) and Dickinson's Penuela (200m) and Mikusova (400h) will aim for three-peats in their respective events. Other returning champions include Haverford's Robinson (heptathlon), Haverford's Katherine Hirsche (10,000m), Swarthmore's Emily Trelstad (high jump), Teszler (800m) and Retter (shot put), JHU's Phillips (400m), Gettysburg's Holly Ferrera (javelin), and Ursinus' Rachel Conhoff (1500m) and Isabelle Deal (javelin & shot put, 2021 meet).