RESULTS

BIRMIINGHAM, Ala. – The Lee University women's track & field team completed the Samford Open with three Lee records and three NCAA Division II provisional qualifying performances. The meet was held at the Birmingham Crossplex.

Celine Ritter won both the mile and 800-meter run events. She set a Lee and meet record with a time of 4:44.95 in the mile. The time improved her Lee record of 4:49.63 from last year's Camel City Invitational and met the provisional qualifying time of 4:58.32. Ritter just missed the automatic qualifying mark of 4:44.50. Ritter won the 800-meter run by almost four seconds at 2:17.23.

"Celine has a passion for the mile distance," said Lee head coach Caleb Morgan. "You could tell when she was racing today, she was in her element and confident over the distance. She has what it takes to be a national title contender this season. This performance is a big break through and confidence builder for the coming weeks."

Toni Moore improved her Lee record time in the 5000-meter run. Her first-place time of 17:11.54 knocked 36 seconds off her previous mark of 17:47.99 set at the 2020 GSC Indoor Championships. Olivia McLain placed second at 17:14.91. Both times were under the provisional standard of 17:25.97.

"Toni and Olivia strung together two amazing weeks of races. They have had major break throughs and are solidifying themselves as national qualifying athletes. I am proud of their hard work and belief in themselves to break through and run at such a high level in such a short period of time in our program," added Morgan.

Hannah Wright set a new Lee record of 9.06 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles preliminaries then improved that mark to 8.92 in the finals. She finished first and Brooke Long was fifth with a time of 9.45 seconds.

Danielle Horter placed fifth (2:30.73) in the 800 and was ninth (5:13.01) in the mile. Moore was fifth with a mile time of 4:59.99.

The Lady Flames had four participants in the 60-meter dash. Kyleeyah Whitehead finished fourth at 7.98 seconds with Baylie Murphy (7.99) and Kristen Blevins (8.01) right behind in fifth and sixth, respectively. Jaila Whitaker finished eighth at 8.14 seconds.

The foursome was joined by Mikayla Beeler in the 200-meter dash. Blevins was third (26.12) and Beeler finished fourth (26.39). Whitaker placed seventh (26.92), Murphy was 10^th (27.09) and Whitehead was 15^th (27.57).

Beeler claimed first place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 58.42 seconds. Jamaya Rand stopped the clock at 1:01.49 for fourth and Hannah Wright was 12^th (1:03.62).

Hannah Spooneybarger led four Lee runners in the 3000-meter run. Spooneybarger (10:06.88) crossed the finish line over six seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. Audrey Royer finished fourth (10:35.73) with Elizabeth Heckman in sixth (10:52.92) and Elizabeth Beckham in seventh (10:57.51).

Carissa Hall recorded a triple jump of 11.12 meters to finish fourth and was 14^th in the long jump with a leap of 4.70 meters. Long recorded an eighth-place long jump of 4.98 meters.

The 4x400-meter relay team of Blevins, Wright, Hall and Beeler finished second with a combined time of 4:11.71.

Deborah Rubin claimed two top-three finishes. She was second in the weight throw with a recorded distance of 15.08 meters and was third in the shot put at 12.24 meters. Faith Lewis threw the shot 12.11 meters for fourth and finished sixth with a 12.74-meter weight throw. Sophie Frederick finished 12^th with a mark of 9.88 meters in the shot put and Mattie Thomas was 10^th with a weight throw of 11.01 meters.

The Lady Flames will take a week off before traveling to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the Camel City Invitational the weekend of Feb. 5-6.