ORANGE CITY, Iowa (April 22, 2023) - The Buena Vista women's track & field team battled the cool and crisp temperatures on both Friday and Saturday at the Red Raider Invite, hosted by Northwestern College. The team captured four first-place finishes at the event with no team score kept.

Graduate student Becca Simpson continues her monster season by winning the hammer throw on Friday night with a toss of 179-8 to claim the title by 19 feet. Anna Friedrichsen came in third at 148-2.75.  Simpson came back on Saturday and was runner-up in the shot put at 45-1.75, finishing six inches shy of the top spot. Friedrichsen came in seventh, just one spot behind Courtney Johnson.  Friedrichsen capped her weekend by taking fourth in the discus with a toss of 126-7.

Mary Yanga kept the strong field event performances rolling for the team as she took third in the high jump on Saturday with a season-best mark of 5-3.75.  Jessica Sump, meanwhile, placed fourth in the long jump at 16-8.75.

Kylie Johnston highlighted the running events for BVU with her title in the 100-meter dash in a time of 12.96 seconds. She then went on to take third in the 200-meter dash in 27.18 seconds. Katara Jondle was runner-up in the 400-meter dash at 1:01.4 with Puritie Smith close behind in fifth (1:04.32). Jondle would then win the 200-meter dash in a time 26.32 seconds with Hannah Olson taking second (26.90).  BVU claimed six of the top-7 place finishes in the event.

The team's fourth title came via the 4x100 meter relay team of Sump, Jondle, Olson, and Johnston. The team, which won the event by three seconds, reached the finish line in a time of 50.64 seconds which was only three-tenths of a second off its season-best.

Next up for the Beavers will be the Drake Relays on April 27-29 for those who qualified. The team will be sending the majority of its team to the Grand View University Viking Classic on Friday, April 28.