Navy Women Win Indoor Track and Field Star

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's track and field team won the Indoor Star Meet, which is part of the Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA, for the fifth-straight season by a score of 99-82 on Saturday at the Wesley A. Brown Field House in Annapolis, Md.

The Mids won 10 of the 17 events and earned the maximum points (eight) in three to improve to 20-17-1 in the indoor series. Navy has now won the women's Indoor Star Meet 14 times since 2006.

The meet scoring format was 5-3-2-1 for individual events and 5-3 for relays.

Between the men's and the women's meet, the Mids totaled 6 program records, 18 school top-10 times / marks and five Army-Navy meet records.

With the win, Director of Track and Field / Cross Country Jamie Cook claimed his sixth indoor victory over the Black Knights in his seven years at the helm. He has led Navy to 18-straight track and field Star wins and owns a 21-3 record against Army.

"It's extremely significant to say that Navy track and field has won 18-straight Stars over Army. We've won every Indoor and Outdoor Star Meet this decade and I couldn't be more proud of the teams, our terrific coaching staff and all our support staff that helped lead us to another great day for our program. Army had a little bit of extra experience in some areas, but the team did a great job of overcoming that obstacle," said Cook. "Our goal is to win as a team and our objective of winning on both sides in a commanding fashion was once again achieved. It brought me a lot of joy to see us perform the way we did today in front of a capacity crowd.

"It really made me proud to have the support of Superintendent Vice Adm. Yvette M. Davids, Commandant Col. James P. McDonough and athletic director Chet Gladchuk come to our meets and support our team. We always compete hard and take advantage of every opportunity to represent the Naval Academy. Our captains Joshua Boamah, Annie Taylor, Brahmir Vick and Alayna Schloeder did a tremendous job of leading by example and having great performances. Also, I can't say enough about Jia Anderson. Breaking three school records in a meet of this magnitude shows how great of an athlete she has become in just her second year. This is a very competitive meet, but I believe our teams were ready because they competed hard, stayed together as a unit when adversity came upon us and executed everything we asked of them."

Jia Anderson highlighted the meet with three school records to score 14 points.

She began the dual by breaking her own school and meet record in the 60m hurdles with a winning time of 8.36. Her finish was .05 seconds faster than her previous program record that she posted at the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational last season. Additionally, she bested her meet-record time by .13 seconds, which she recorded at last year's Indoor Star Meet (8.49).

She then won the 60m by breaking the school record with a time of 7.53. She finished .03 seconds faster than the previous record set by Regine Tugade (7.56) in 2020.

Anderson's final program record came in the 200m. She placed second overall in the race with a time of 24.18. Anderson beat the previous record by .07 seconds, which her former teammate, Molly Mangan (24.25), posted at the 2023 Patriot League Championship.

Team captain Annie Taylor placed third in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.73 to score two points.

Mayu Gayton (7.66) and Sophia Richter (24.92) finished in third place in the 60m and 200m, respectively, to score two points each.

Annie Lemelin and Taylor Woodworth were also key contributors for the Mids in the sprint events. Lemelin won the 400m with a time of 55.39. Woodworth finished right behind in second place with a time of 55.44 to help Navy sweep the event.

Woodworth was the hero for the Mids in the 4x400m relay. She powered past Army's Emma Taylor on the final turn to win the race and score Navy five points. Woodworth, Lemelin, Richter and Kylie Bedard ended with a time of 3:44.21, which is tied for the second-best finish in school history.

The 4x800m relay team of Susannah Heinz, Lexi Ensor, Mia-Claire Kezal and Kayla McGuire also produced a history race. The squad broke the meet record with a time of 9:05.25 to finish in first place by 13 seconds. Their time was .28 seconds faster than the previous record set by Army in 2019. Additionally, the time ranks 10th in Navy's record book.

McGuire and Kezal also shined individually. McGuire won the 500m with a time of 1:14.67. Kezal registered the fifth-fastest time in team history (2:49.99) to place second in the 1,000m.

Bedard also scored in the 500m by placing third with a time of 1:14.85.

Kate Leddy clocked in a time of 2:53.11 to place third in the 1,000m.

Ellie Abraham accounted for a combined seven points for her efforts in the 800m and mile. The senior won the 800m with a time of 2:13.33. Her mile time, which ranks sixth in program history, earned her a third-place finish.

Also scoring in the 800m was McKenna Brophy, who placed third with a time of 2:14.61.

Emily Boutin (second place) finished just before Abraham in the mile with the fifth-best time in school history at 4:47.74. Additionally, she posted the sixth-fastest 3,000m time (9:35.02) in Navy history to place third. She ended with five points for her placements in her two races.

Sophie Compton also registered a top-10 time in the 3,000m. She finished with the second-best time in team history at 9:31.14 to place second.

The Mids also won three of the field events.

Alayna Schloeder continued her impressive senior campaign by winning the pole vault with a height of 4.01m (13' 1.75"). Her mark broke the meet record by .01m, which was recorded by Charlene Morke in 2022. Schloeder's height is also tied for the third-best mark in school history with Stephanie Jacobs.

Mimi McHugh compiled a pole vault height of 3.75m (12' 3.5") to place second and give Navy the maximum points in the event.

The Mids also earned the maximum points in the triple jump. Sami Bollinger won the event with a jump of 12.01m (39' 5"). Giulia Mesa posted a second-place finish with a mark of 11.77m (38' 7.5").

Mesa also had an impressive performance in the long jump. She tied the eighth-farthest distance in program history at 5.82m (19' 1.25") to take second place.

Gayton added to her point total with a third-place effort in the long jump at 5.78m (18' 11.75").

The fourth top-10 high jump mark of the season for Hannah Lowenstein helped her win the event. She recorded a height of 1.71m (5' 7.25"), which is tied for ninth all-time in Navy history.

Taylor (1.60m / 5' 3") was the additional scorer in the high jump with a fifth-place finish.

Jordynn Hutchinson and Jacee Hauser combined to score six points in the shot put and weight throw.

Hutchinson recorded another impressive distance in the weight throw (17.75m / 58' 3") to finish in third place. She took fourth place in the shot put with a throw of 13.21m (43' 4.25").

Hauser placed fifth in both the shot put (10.76m / 35' 3.75") and weight throw (13.23m / 43' 5").