During the Iowa Invitational last weekend, freshman Michelle Hartmann earned her first career individual victory by winning the 400-meter run with a time of 1:01.38, claiming the fastest time for a BU runner in the event.
Hartmann defeated Nicole Mulder of Simpson by a full second in the competition. Mulder ended up in second place, and freshman Tatierra Bivens came in fourth place with a time of 1:05.72.
“It was great to see Michelle win,” coach David Beauchem said. “She is really fitting in well to our team and I look forward to seeing her compete for us.”
In sprint events, Bivens came away with a fourth-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.87 seconds. The Braves Erica Sepich and Amanda Harms both qualified to compete in the 60-meter dash finals.
Sepich finished the finals in 8.42 seconds earning a sixth-place finish, while Harms finished in 8.58 capturing seventh place.
Sophomores Leann Murphy and Mary Goldkamp finished the 800-meter race in third and fifth places, respectively.
Murphy finished in 2:20.73, just missing her previous season-best and Goldkamp completed the race in 2:22.01 and also claimed a sixth-place finish in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:40.52.
Freshmen Kourtnie Janson and Lyndsey Cleghorn had good outings in field events with Janson turning in the top high-jump performance of the meet with a BU season-best jump of 5-feet-11-inches. Cleghorn equaled her best in the event with a jump of 4-feet-11-inches.
Senior Trish Martens recorded a jump of 32-feet-11-inches in the triple jump, narrowly missing her previous indoor season-best.
Beauchem said he was very proud of the team.
“I felt like we had the best team effort of the season,” he said. “We put some people in events they had not been in before to better prepare them for their primary events down the road, and I think we responded pretty well.”
The Braves are now preparing for the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships on Saturday in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
