ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. - The Butler women's track and field team rallied late to take third place at the Region VI Outdoor Championships on Saturday.
Butler had three runner-up performances and five third-place finishes to score 90 points, tying Cloud County. Barton won the meet with 192 points, well ahead of runner-up Coffeyville's 105.
Valeriya Kostiuk (high jump) and Jayne Roberts (pole vault) both finshed second in their events, while the Grizzlies' 4x400-meter relay team also took second.
Butler's runner-up finish in the 4x400-meter relay secured a two-way tie for third with Cloud County, who finished sixth in the race. The Grizzlies' team of Davia Smith, Alexxis Milner, Courtney Willis and Helen Thames finished with a time of 3:46.60, just over a half-second faster than Coffeyville's relay quartet.
Kostiuk cleared the bar at 1.63 meters (5' 4-1/4") on her first attempt to secure second, while two other jumpers made the same height but on repeated attempts.
Roberts also took second on tiebreakers in the pole vault, as she cleared 3.20 meters (10' 6") on her first try. Along with Roberts' runner-up placing, sophomore Madison McLaughlin cleared 3.05 meters (10' 0") to finish fourth.
The Grizzlies placed in the top four in all three relay events, including a third-place finish in the 4x100-meter event. Smith, Milner, Tashoy Blake and Kylia Smith had a time of 46.33 seconds.
In the 4x800-meter relay, the team of Jade Searles, Roshae Burrell, Jeanna Baker and Conangela Senior took fourth with a time of 9:34.79.
Julianna Horner placed third in the shot put with a top throw of 12.42 meters (40' 9"). Horner, who also finished eighth in the hammer (43.15 meters), hit the mark twice - on her first preliminary attempt and her final throw.
Also taking third in the 400-meter run was Davia Smith (55.40 seconds), while teammate Courtney Willis placed fifth (57.88).
Milner placed third in the heptathlon with 4,629 points, winning in the 100-meter hurdles (14.37) and 200-meter dash (24.89 seconds). She also took second in the 800-meter event with a time of 2:33.41. Roberts scored 3,388 points to finish eighth in the heptathlon, with her best finish coming in the 100-meter hurdles (15.19, fourth).
Milner also took sixth in the 100-meter dash (12.15 seconds), giving her two individual medals at the meet.
Jade Searles had a pair of placing finishes in distance events, taking fifth in the 1,500-meter (4:53.65) and seventh in the 5,000-meter run (20:20.23).
Other Grizzly placers at the meet were:
Shot put - Dejah Erskine (12.26 meters, fifth)
Long jump - Kylia Smith (5.52m, sixth); Angel Malone (5.49m, seventh).
10,000m run - Irine Jepkemboi (44:35.87, seventh); Alex Fulton (47:18.41, eighth)
400m hurdles - Helen Thames (1:08.45, seventh)
High jump - Jalicia Neil (1.53m, seventh).
3,000-meter steeplechase - Janie Salinas (13:16.29, eighth)
"Our women competed extremely hard," said Butler head coach Ryan Turner. "We've lost a few girls to injuries and we are not the team we had indoors, but to my surprise, several girls stepped up and scored more points than expected."
Butler will next compete in the NJCAA Outdoor Championships, which begins Thursday, May 18 in Hutchinson. The three-day meet opens with the women's heptathlon and men's pentathlon.
