The University of Rhode Island women’s track and field team traveled to Boston University to compete in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Saturday afternoon.
At the non-scoring event, URI set both school records and personal bests. Among the 19 athletes who participated in the meet, third-year Odette van Wyk placed third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.70 seconds, and also placed eighth in the 200-meter with a time of 24.53 seconds, bettering her school record which she had broken two weeks ago. In the 4×400-meter relay, the Rams ran a season-best time of 3:44, placing fourth overall.
Fifth-year Megan Wood set a personal best in the weight throw with a distance of 18 meters, earning herself second place. She also earned fourth in the shot put, with a distance of 14.27 meters.
“Honestly, I’m very happy with how everything went,” Wood said. “I wasn’t really expecting much from the meet for myself because I was sick on Monday and Tuesday, so I only really had three days of practice this week.”
As a captain, Wood persevered through her illness.
“A lot of it comes down to trusting that your training will still be there even if you had an off week at practice,” Wood said. “You just have to remember that regardless of what happens at practice, the meet is a new day.”
Other standout performers included third-year Lily Saul, who ran her second-best 800-meter with a time of 2:05, and two first-years: Lily MacDonald with her personal-best triple jump of 11.91 meters, placing third, and Macy Daigle, who cleared 1.63 meters in the high jump to tie for fourth.
“The two of them are outstanding student-athletes,” URI Head Coach Laurie Feit-Melnick said. “We are fortunate to have them and we are looking forward to the journey.”
Looking forward, the focus for Feit-Melnick and her team turns to the Atlantic 10 Championship and beyond.
“It was really a solid weekend and it’s all good prep for just getting ready for the championships,” Feit-Melnick said. “We are looking forward to the process, and the process is to go down and finish our season at championship level.”
This weekend, the Rams will travel to Providence to compete in the Brown Invitational, the team’s final meet before the A-10 Championship. The event is slated to start at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
