PITTSBURG, Kan. - The Butler women had a successful Day 1 at the Region VI Indoor Championships at Pittsburg State University.
The Grizzlies, ranked 10th in this week's NJCAA rankings, were atop the team standings with 49 points after the opening day. Butler led runner-up Barton by seven points, while Coffeyville (39) and Cowley (20) sit in third and fourth place, respectively.
The women were helped out by sophomore Rachael Buzanowski (pole vault) and freshman Sheila Samoei (5,000 meter run), who won their respective events. Buzanowski reset the school record with a vault of 3.67 meters (12 feet), which moved her into first place among NJCAA women this season. Samoei won the 5,000m event with a time of 19:20.81, while freshman teammate Janie Salinas was eighth (20:27.24).
In the women's heptathlon, sophomore Kristina Vujanic finished runner-up with 3,156 points, just 224 points behind champion Juliette Smith of Coffeyville. Vujanic won the 800 meter event (2:21.05) and placed second in the shot put (10.57m). Freshman Alexxis Milner was third with 2,806 points, giving the Butler women a total of 14 points in the heptathlon. Milner was second in both the 60 meter hurdles and 800 meters (2:33.38).
Along with Buzanowski's school record in the pole vault, freshman Danae Bina (3.25m) and Madison McLaughlin (3.10m) placed fourth and fifth in the event, respectively. All three Grizzly vaulters set personal bests on the day.
The women's distance medley relay team of Salinas, Courtney Willis, Kalynn Simpson and Samoei finished fourth with a time of 13.05.26.
In preliminary events, sophomore Ona Giles qualified for Saturday's finals in the 200-meter dash, where she will be seeded fifth after running a 25.31 time. In the 60-meter hurdles, freshman Jasmine Frazier had the third-best preliminary time at 8.89 second to qualify for the finals. Vujanic also made her way into the finals with ninth-place finish at 9.45.
Butler also added another national qualifier to the list for the NJCAA Indoor Championships, as freshman Shelby Coburn had a mark of 11.89 meters in the shot put event.
Saturday's schedule begins with running events at 9:00 a.m., beginning with the women's 4x800-meter relay event. Women's field events start at 10:00 a.m. with the triple jump, while the weight throw and high jump is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.