BATON ROUGE, La. — On Saturday, the Commodores wrapped up the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. After three days of competition, the Vanderbilt women’s track and field team finished in 11th place and totaled 39 points, which is the most scored by the program since 1999. This weekend, Vanderbilt boasted two individual SEC champions, six scoring performances and a plethora of personal bests and entries into program record books.
“The whole team from the athletes to the coaches to the support staff were working to be the best. Not just to have a presence and be better but to be the best, and it’s showing in everything that we do” director of track and field Althea Thomas said. “It feels really good. I’m most proud of how they’re doing everything with confidence and assurance, even beyond rankings and what people expect.”
Veronica Fraley was crowned SEC discus champion after breaking the Vanderbilt and Bernie Moore Track Stadium facility records with a personal best 62.84-meter throw. Her mark is No. 13 in collegiate history. Over the course of six throws, five surpassed Fraley’s previous best mark of 60.24 meters.
This is the first year that the Vanderbilt track and field program has ever had two individual outdoor conference champions.
Jada Sims finished 10th in the high jump final, clearing 1.71 meters.
After finishing eighth in Friday’s 400-meter prelims, Taiya Shelby competed in the 400-meter final on Saturday, clocking 53.11 seconds to finish ninth. She PRed during prelims, crossing the finish line in 51.43 seconds, which is the No. 2 all-time mark at Vanderbilt.
The 4×100-meter relay team of Madison Fuller, Ella Escobar, Nicole Anderson and Allyria McBride recorded 46.37 seconds, the sixth fastest time in school history.
In the 400-meter hurdle final, Brooke Overholt and McBride posted scoring marks for Vanderbilt, finishing fifth and seventh, respectively. Overholt ran a personal best 56.64 seconds in the prelims, the No. 2 time in school history, and finished with a time of 56.98 seconds in the final. McBride’s time of 56.72 seconds from prelims is a personal best and third in program history. In the final, she recorded 57.71 seconds.
Niki Narayani completed the 5,000 meters in 16:43.98, claiming 11th-place. Finishing 18th, Caroline Eck ran a time of 16:58.41.
In the last event of the meet, the 4×400-meter relay team of McBride, Shelby, Kaira Brown and Overholt reset the school record with a time of…