Spiders win two golds, two silvers at A-10 Championship

Saturday, May 6

Amherst, Mass.

11:20 A.M.

University of Richmond

Atlantic 10 Championships

Spiders win two golds, two silvers at A-10 Championship

05/07/2023 | Women's Track & Field

Results Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

AMHERST, Mass. — The Richmond Women's Track & Field team secured four medals on the final day of the Atlantic 10 Championship Sunday, a performance highlighted by wins in the 1,500 meters and 4 x 800 meters relay.

The Spiders made a stamp on the competition in the very first individual race Sunday, taking first and second place in the 1,500m. Madison Trippett outsprinted teammate Kayla O'Connell down the final straightaway to secure gold with a time of 4:22.83. O'Connell finished second in 4:24.60, a personal best. It was Trippett's first career gold medal in the Outdoor A-10 Championship and the first individual Outdoor A-10 Championship medal for O'Connell, who won gold as part of the Richmond's 4 x 800m relay team in 2021.

Richmond also medaled in the 800 meters, with Kyra Keurentjes finishing second in 2:08.71. Teammate Kate McAndrew missed out on a medal by .06 seconds, placing fourth in a season-best 2:09.06. O'Connell was fifth in 2:11.82.

"The 1,500 and the 800, those are big events for us and everybody showed up," said Richmond Head Coach Lori Taylor.

The Spiders were tested in the 4 x 800 meters relay, but McAndrew pulled away over the final 200 meters as Richmond outlasted runner-up Davidson for gold. UR's time of 8:52.62 secured a sixth straight win for the Spiders in this event at the A-10 Outdoor Championship. Lindsay Colflesh ran a strong leadoff leg to give Richmond a lead, and Keurentjes and Dylan Miller kept the Spiders in front on legs two and three, respectively, before turning it over to McAndrew. It was McAndrew's third straight gold medal the event, and the second straight for Colflesh.

Shortly after winning gold in the 4 x 800m, Richmond almost grabbed a surprise medal in the 4 x 400m relay. The Spiders team of Ginny Beringer, Caroline Donohoe, O'Connell, and Elke van der Westhuizen finished fourth in a time of 3:46.53, less than a second behind third-place UMass.

"We finished off really well," said Taylor. "4 by 8, 4 by 4 — the ladies really did a great job."

Earlier in the day, van der Westhuizen, who ran a personal-best 56.21 to grab the final spot in the 400 meters final Saturday, placed fifth in the 400m final in a time of 55.26, another personal best.

The 5,000 meters took place under a blazing early afternoon sun that kept the pace moderate – just one of the top 15 finishers achieved a personal best. Richmond placed three runners in the top 15: Trippett finished fifth (17:17.26), Laurel Kurtz placed 11^th (17:52.77), and Anna George was 15^th (18:12.43).

As a team, the Spiders totaled 58 points to place seventh among the 15 women's teams in the competition.

"We're lean this year. We knew that coming into it," said Taylor. "We needed some people to really step up to put ourselves in a position to be in the top five, and we're just on the outside of it. I'm just really proud of these girls that were here today and the effort that they put in and the attitude that they had and going after it."

Next up for the Spiders is next weekend's ECAC Championships in Fairfax, Va.