The women’s indoor track team made great strides in trying to recover from an injury-ridden season by winning the Friday Night Special in Lance Fieldhouse.

“It was a good inaugural effort for the track,” head coach John Craft said. “I was really pleased with our showing. We had about seven or eight personal-best performances.”

Friday was the first meet held in Lantz since it was recently renovated. Next week it will host the Ohio Valley Conference indoor track and field championships.

With the indoor track season almost over, most teams only sent partial teams to prepare for their conference championships. The University of Illinois only sent its pole vaulters, and Illinois State University and Butler University did not send full teams either.

“At this time of year, scoring isn’t really that important,” Craft said. “It was nice to have most of our regular squad back.”

Lauren Rapacki ran away from the field, winning the 3000-meter run, posting a time of 11:06.35. Beth Martin placed third in the mile.

Nicole Milici won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:18.50, and Amanda Galvin and Tammy Schurch placed third and fifth in the 600-meter run.

Leah Reeves and Lexie Nuckolls each returned from illnesses to finish third and fifth respectively in the 60-meter dash, and Catara Benson placed fourth. Benson and Reeves also placed third and fourth respectively in the 200-meter dash. Melissa McMillan, Heather Blanco and Shauna Searcy placed second, fourth and fifth in the 400.

The team of Milici, Katie Springer, Martin and Searcy won the distance medley relay.

In the field events, Marissa Bushue won the triple jump at 37-111/1, and Jennifer Cowen placed second with a personal best at 37-11/4.

“We tried to hold Marissa back while she was nursing a hamstring, but she wanted to see what see could do,” Craft said. “We did an outstanding job in the field events.”

Bushue also won the long jump at 18-1, and Cowen and Andrea Minott took second and third with personal-best leaps.

While jumping with a fractured toe, Cynthia McGee won the high jump with a personal best leap of 5-feet-7-inches.

“My toe is a little sore and still hurts,” McGee said. “But right now I just have to fight through it and compete.”

The throwers also showed much improvement. Tiffany Greenley was second in the shot put and second in the weighted throw at 47-feet-9-inches, almost two feet farther than her previous best. Sandra Hussey placed fifth in the shot put and fourth in the weighted throw with a personal best throw of 45-feet-8-inches. Stephanie Brandt and Teresa Townsend also had personal bests in the weighted throw.

In the pole vault, Mary Wood tied a school record held by Alethea Bodden with a vault of 9-feet.

Although the conference championships are less than a week away, Craft anticipates no major changes in practice this week.

“Right now we have our sights on the conference meet, and it should be quite a test,” Craft said. “This week we’ll just hone our skills and get ready.”