Abbreviations are big in track and field. There’s the typical W (win), there’s PR (personal record) and its relatives MR (meet record), NR (national record), and WR (world record) and the less pleasant DQ (disqualified) and DNF (did not finish).
For senior Kaitlin Gregg, what mattered after her 3,000m race was just a simple P – for provisional national qualifier.
“The race was a good birthday present,” said the now 22-year-old Gregg. “It was a really fast heat. There was an Olympian in the race, so they went out hard from the front. I was sitting in the middle to back and just went along for the ride and tried to keep moving up. I was really happy with it. It was a good PR, a good way to open.”
Gregg will now have to wait to see if her provisional mark of 9:32.87 – the No. 2 mark in school history – holds up to qualify her for nationals. She will shoot for a qualifier in the 5,000m – an event more suited to her – when the team returns to Washington in two weeks.
Just before Gregg hit the track, senior Lorin Scott had her own heat of the 3,000m. She put on a dominating performance to PR in 9:46.13, which is now third on the all-time list.
“Lorin did all the work,” said coach Deanne Vochatzer. “She lead wire to wire, except about 200m when a BYU girl passed her and then Lorin passed her right back. It’s been a while since she’s raced, so that’s really exciting.”
Off the track, throwers Chid Onyewuenyi and Ashley Hearn doubled in the shot put and weight throw, with the duo moving to No. 2 and No. 3 on the all-time list.
In her first time in the event, Hearn dominated her flight with a 16.83m throw (and had another at just 10cm back). The veteran Onyewuenyi let loose a 17.11m after two opening fouls, placing fourth in a flight won by another Olympian.
The Aggies notched two heat wins in the sprints, one of which impacted the all-time list. Senior Nicole Theus clocked 25.74 in the 200m to solidify her No. 3 spot, and junior Ugo Eke won her two-woman heat of the 400m in 57.41.
“For our first meet,” Vochatzer said, “being back in school three weeks and all that good stuff, we are way ahead of where we were last year at this time by far. We’re coming back in two weeks; we’ll add Kimmy Conley – add a really good 5,000m – and move Kaitlin and Lorin up as well.
“We didn’t run our 4x400m relay because, again, we’re just coming back in off break. We’ll come up in two weeks and run it. This really tells us where we are and gives everyone some good focus on where they are and what they need to do.”
ALEX WOLF-ROOT can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
