Women's Track & Field Wins Two Events at D3 Challenge

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran track and field continued its outdoor season, hosting the annual D3 Challenge at Bulldog Stadium in Seguin on Saturday.

Trinity Murdock (Katy/Paetow) highlighted the event for the Bulldogs, winning the 100m dash with a time of 12.34 seconds, returning her to a top 15 time in NCAA Division-III. Murdock would finish sixth in the 200m dash with a time of 26.31 seconds.

Katelyn Brown would also win the high jump with a mark of 1.45m (4' 9").

Taylor Norrell (Lake Jackson/Brazosport) finished third in the 100m hurdles with a career-best time of 15.24 seconds.

In what was a highly anticipated race on the day, the Texas Lutheran 4x100m relay team comprised of Norrell, Natalie Garcia (McAllen/McAllen), Leilani Lopez (San Antonio/St. Anthony Catholic), and Trinity Murdock - who entered the day with one of the top 15 times in NCAA Division-III - finished third with a season-best time of 48.67 seconds to further solidify themselves amongst the top 15 relay teams in Division-III.

Freshman Briley Rother (Hallettsville/Hallettsville) finished third in the long jump with a mark of 4.96m (16' 3.25").

Emma Etzler (Hallettsville/Hallettsville) and Gianna Kennedy (El Paso/El Paso) finished fourth and fifth respectively in the 5000m run with times of 20:01.12 and 20:24.09.

Kamilah Tanner (Killeen/Robert M. Shoemaker) finished fifth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:08.64. Katie Kostelnik (Hallettsville/Sacred Heart Catholic) finished fifth in the 400m dash with a time of 1:00.91.

Ashlynn Recknagel (La Vernia/La Vernia) finished third in the pole vault with a personal-best mark of 3.35m (11'0"").

In throws, Julissa Rodriguez (Deer Park/Deer Park), the back-to-back SCAC Field Athlete of the Week, finished third in the hammer throw event that took place Friday evening with a mark of 45.45m (149' 1"). On Saturday, she would finish seventh in the javelin throw (31.21m, 102' 5") and fourth in the shot put (11.35m, 37' 2.75").

Freshman Deserae Charles (Natchitoches, LA /Forney) finished third in the shot put with a mark of 11.78m (38' 7.75"). Fellow freshman Madison Malone (Boling/Boling), who joined the team in her first collegiate meet after competing for the women's basketball team earlier this spring, finished fifth in the discus throw with a personal record mark of 36.79m (120' 8").

Full Results: http://live.ntxtiming.com/meets/576431/events

Coach McCown's Comments: "There is nothing that compares to the energy and results you get from competing at home. This team competed with determination and focus this weekend. I am very proud of what I saw from this team. Congratulations to our event winners. Dalon, Bryce, Ezra, Layden, Katelyn and Trinity. We will keep putting in the work and even better results will follow. Go Dogs!"

Texas Lutheran will travel to San Marcos for the Bobcat Invitational next week starting on Thursday, March 28. For all updates on Texas Lutheran Track and Field, follow @tluthrows and @tluxctf on Instagram as well as as all official TLU Athletics accounts. All schedule updates can be found on tlubulldogs.com.