ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's track and field team trailed by as many as 10 points at the midway point of the meet, but outscored rival Army 44-27 down the stretch to come away with a 94-87 victory in the Indoor Star Meet on Saturday afternoon at Wesley A. Brown Field House.
The women's track and field team has now defeated the Black Knights three consecutive times.
With the win and Star victories by men's track and field, gymnastics, and rifle, Navy clinches the overall Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA – the earliest in Army-Navy history. The Star competition is now 13-1 in favor of the Midshipmen with the overall Army-Navy series standings at 17-2.
Similar to the men's meet, Army took the top two spots in the weight throw to jump out to an early 8-3 advantage through one event.
Navy responded with a 1-2 finish in the long jump. Senior team captain Katie Halbert posted a jump of 5.92m (19-05.25) to win the event, while teammate Breanna Mealer took second with a distance of 5.88m (19-03.50) to knot the score at 11-11.
The Black Knights won the 1-mile run, but Winter Boese and Elizabeth Sullivan finished second and third, respectively, to keep the Midshipmen within one, 17-16.
Halbert won the 60m hurdles with a school-record time of 8.56 to give Navy its first lead of the afternoon, 23-21, after four events. Lindsay Lewis finished third in the event with a time of 8.82 to give Navy seven points in the hurdles.
Molly Mangan won the 400m dash with a time of 56.16 to push the Mids' advantage to 29-26 through five scored events.
Army regained the lead, 34-32, finishing 1-2 in the 500m. The Black Knights also claimed the 60m dash, extending their advantage to 41-36. Mayu Gayton posted a season-best time of 7.72 to finish second in the 60m dash. In the 800m, the Black Knights increased their lead to 49-39, claiming the top two spots in the event. Army's Anna Tovkach won the 800m with a facility and meet record with a time of 2:07.16.
Navy closed the gap by sweeping the 1,000m run. Ellie Abraham won the race with at time of 2:53.61, while teammates Maddie Warrender and Alanna Julius finished second and third with times of 2:53.92 and 2:55.21, respectively.
The shot put saw the visitors sweeping the event to extend the advantage to 60-50 with seven events remaining. The Black Knights' Emily Fink won the event with a meet record throw of 15.72m (51-07.00);
Navy's Sabrina Sutter won the 200m dash with a time of 24.71, while Mangan finished third with a time of 25.14 to give the Mids seven points in the event.
The Midshipmen swept the triple jump with Molly Chapman and Giulia Mesa finishing 1-2. Chapman registered a winning distance of 11.94m (39-02.25), while Mesa clinched maximum points for Navy with a second-place finish of 11.73m (38-06.00).
The Black Knights claimed the 3,000m with a victory, but a second- (9:51.42) and third-place (9:54.73) by Jessica Nangle and Emily Boutin helped keep the meet within grasp.
Trailing 73-70 through 13 events, the meet turned in Navy's favor as the Midshipmen swept the pole vault and high jump to go ahead 86-79 with just the relays remaining.
Charline Morke posted a meet-record height of 4.00m (13-01.50) in the pole vault to win the event, finishing just ahead of teammate Stephanie Jacobs, who posted a vault of 3.80m (12-05.50) to finish second.
In the high jump, Navy used a pair of record-breaking performances to sweep the event. Chapman and Taylor Buchanan each tied the Navy school record of 1.73m (5-08.00) to give the Midshipmen maximum points.
Leading 86-79, the Midshipmen need to finish the relays in order to secure the victory. Navy came in second in the 4x400m to earn three points and pull two within two points of a win. Needing to merely complete the final relay, the 4x800m squad of Warrender, Anna Kovacs, Kelly Murray, and Abraham put an exclamation on the meet with a time of 9:10.98 to win the final event and secure the 94-87 Star win.
