Two weeks after its incredible performance in the Meyo Invitational, Northwestern women’s track split its squad, sending some runners to the Blue Demon Alumni Classic on Friday, hosted by DePaul, and others to the David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Saturday, hosted by Boston University. The events marked the second-to-last weekend of indoor track regular-season activity and featured many standout performances and personal bests.
Blue Demon Alumni Classic
The Wildcats’ afternoon in Chicago, IL, started at 3 p.m. CT on Friday
with the mile run. The ‘Cats started out hot and finished the race with three of the top five finishers, including winner Cary Drake. Drake, a first-year, competed in the event for the first time this season and posted a time of 4:46.99, beating the second-place DePaul runner by 0.0015 seconds. Her mile time is Northwestern’s second fastest of the season, as Drake appears to be a promising cornerstone for the future of Northwestern track. Allegra Massey and Mallory Grubb finished fourth and fifth in the event, while Katherine Klimek finished 14th.
In the 800-meter, it was another first-year runner making noise as Olivia Capala finished second, posting a 2:09.00, trailing an Illinois State runner by just over two seconds. Capala’s personal-best run puts her just behind the school record of 2:07.23 set by Skye Ellis at the Meyo Invitational two weeks ago.
The 3000 Meter saw four NU runners participate, with Kailey Zagst’s sixth-place finish, a time of 9:50.69, the best of the bunch. Zagst and Delilah Helenhouse set personal-best times, as all four Wildcats finished in the top 14.
Drake, Capala, Grubb and Massey participated in Northwestern’s final event of the day in the 4 x 400 relay, where they finished ninth with a season-best time of 3:58.80.
David Hemery Valentine Invitational
The Valentine’s Day invitational, located on Boston University’s campus, featured some of the best runners from across the country and represented Northwestern’s second time sending runners to the Massachusetts state capital this season. Northwestern had six runners participate across the 3000 and 5000 meter events.
In the 3000-meter, senior Anna Hightower set a personal best of 9:09.13, finishing ninth and posting NU’s best time in the event on the season and third best time in NU track history. Hightower beat her previous record by over a second as she continues to close her indoor track career out in style. Future Washington Husky and current senior in High School Abigail Hennessy finished first in the event, posting a 9:02.77.
Also in the 3000-meter, Ellis shattered her personal best time with a 9:09.71, placing 12th overall and second in her heat. Ellis’s time was over ten seconds faster than her previous record. Jackie Holman completed the personal-best trifecta, finishing in 20th place overall with a time of 9:13.94.
The 5000-meter saw more impressive Wildcat performances, headlined by Ava Criniti’s personal-best time of 15:54.42. Criniti, who finished in 15th, broke her previous record in the event by 17 seconds en route to the second-fastest 5000-meter NU track time ever. Maddy Whitman and Mia Mraz finished in 44th and 61st.
Northwestern track now turns its attention to the Margaret Bradley Invitational next Saturday, Feb. 21, on the University of Chicago’s campus. The event is the last of the regular season, as the following weeks will feature the Big Ten and NCAA Indoor Championships.
