HUTCHINSON, Kan. – With victories in four events and five second-place finishes, the Butler women's track and field team took home the runner-up trophy Saturday at the Region VI Outdoor Championships, which was held at Gowans Stadium.
The ninth-ranked Grizzlies finished with 142 points for second place, trailing only Barton at 173. Cowley and Cloud County tied for third place as both teams scored 99 points.
Grizzly freshman Charnice Anderson, who had two first-place finishes (200-meter dash, 4x100-meter relay) and a runner-up placing (100-meter dash), was named the Region VI women's track athlete of the meet.
Butler opened Saturday morning with a victory in the high jump, as freshman Jalicia Neil had the top clearance of 1.68 meters (5'-6").
In the second track event of the day, Butler's 4x100 team of Reina Ryan, Anderson, Tashoy Blake and Kylia Smith crossed the line with the baton first with a time of 45.92 seconds, edging Barton's team of 46.29 seconds.
Sophomore sprinter Davia Smith followed later with a school-record 54.39 time to with the 400-meter dash, beating out freshman teammate Reina Ryan (55.13).
Anderson and Ryan then went 1-2 in the 200-meter dash, with Anderson taking top honors with a 23.84 time. Ryan had a runner-up time of 24.37 seconds.
In the 100-meter dash, Anderson finished second with a time of 11.80 seconds, while Kylia Smith (12.00) and Tashoy Blake (12.16) placed fourth and sixth, respectively.
Butler had a solid showing in each of the sprinting events, as the Grizzlies had all three competitors place in all three events, as freshman Rebekah Hamilton placed in both the 200 (25.28, sixth) and 400 (59.11, eighth).
Sophomore Jayne Roberts took second in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 3.20 meters (10'-6"), while Ryan, Davia Smith, Hamilton and Blake ended the meet with a runner-up finish in the 4x400-meter relay (3:48.05).
In the 1,500-meter run, Butler's Jade Searles (4:56.28) and Roshea Burrell (4:59.00) went 3-4 in the event.
Other Grizzly placers during Saturday's finals were:
Roshea Burrell, 800-meter run (2:19.56, fourth)
Kayliah Carr, triple jump (11.23 meters, fifth)
Conangela Senior, 800-meter run (2:20.10, sixth)
Jayne Roberts, 100-meter hurdles (15.66, seventh)
Jeanna Baker, 3,000-meter steeplechase (14:00.06, eighth)
On Friday, Butler had three placers in the heptathlon, going 3-4-5 to score 15 points in the event. Jayne Roberts was the top Grizzly by taking third with 3,628 points, while Kayliah Carr (3,356) and Ashton Synder (3,346) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Roberts' best finish came in the 100-meter hurdles (15.62) and javelin (24.17 meters), as she finished third in both events. Carr took third in the high jump (1.45m), 200-meter dash (26.58), and long jump (4.72m), while Snyder had a runner-up finish in the javelin event (24.28m).
Burrell, Searles, Baker and Senior made up the 4x800-meter relay team that placed fourth (9:36.74), while Kylia Smith (long jump, 5.46m, sixth) and Valentine Jemutai (10,000-meter run, 47:53.86, eighth) also placed on Saturday.
Next up for the Grizzlies will be the NJCAA National Championships, which Butler will be hosting at BG Products Veterans Sports Complex from May 17-19. Butler has qualified 14 female athletes to compete in 12 events for the national meet, which gets underway on Thursday beginning with the multi events.
