PITTSBURG, Kan. - The Butler women had plenty of hardware to take home Saturday at the Region VI Indoor Championships, which was held at Pittsburg State University.
Butler received a Jayhawk West runner-up trophy, as well as a third-place plaque in Region VI competition. The Grizzlies scored a total of 116 points to place third in the region and finished behind champion Barton (175) and Jayhawk East champ Coffeyville (155). In West rankings, Butler scored 184 points while Barton won the conference with 230 points.
Grizzly freshman Sheila Samoei received the High Point Total award, given to the female who accumulated the most points in the meet. Samoei scored 41 points for the Butler women, winning both the 5,000-meter and 3,000-meter events and finishing second in the mile. She also helped the 4x800-meter relay team to a runner-up finish, as well as the distance medley relay to a fourth-place finish.
Samoei cruised to a first-place finish in the 3,000-meter run (personal-best 11:02.14), winning the race by over 15 seconds. In the mile, Samoei had a personal-best time of 5:29.96, which was less than four seconds behind Barton's Asha Douglas.
In addition to Samoei's win in the 3,000-meter run, freshman Valeriya Kostiuk took first in the high jump event as she cleared 1.71 meters (5 feet, 7 1/4 inches). The victory marked the fifth meet this season that Kostiuk has won the event.
Butler recorded a pair of third-place finishes, beginning with sophomore Ona Giles setting a personal-best time of 25.15 seconds in the 200-meter dash. The 4x400-meter relay team of Kristina Vujanic, Angel Malone, Sabrina Lormeus and Courtney Willis also placed third with a time of 3:58.02.
Malone and Willis also medaled in the 400-meter dash with a pair of personal-best times. Malone took fourth at 57.64 seconds, while Willis was sixth at 57.98. Jasmine Frazier also took fourth in the 60-meter hurdles, crossing the line at 9.07 seconds.
In mid-distance events, Vujanic finished seventh in the 800-meter run (2:26.97) and freshman Helen Thames placed eighth in the 600-meter run (1:41.89). Both times were personal bests for Vujanic and Thames.
Overall, the Grizzlies finished with four first-place finishes at the two-day meet, as Rachael Buzanowski (pole vault) and Samoei (5,000-meter run) won their respective events on Friday.
Next up for the Butler women will be the NJCAA Indoor National Championships, which begins on Friday, March 4 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
