Senior Maddie Smith Wins High Jump to Highlight Bulldogs' Success at Mountain T's Invitational

Shown at a meet last year, Maddie Smith won the High Jump at the 2015 Mountain T's Invitational with a height of 5' 7".
Shown at a meet last year, Maddie Smith won the High Jump at the 2015 Mountain T's Invitational with a height of 5' 7".
Posted: Jan 31, 2015

The University of Redlands track & field teams began the indoor portion of their season by traveling to Northern Arizona University for the Mountain T's Invitational on Friday and Saturday.  Highlighting the meet, senior Maddie Smith (Hoquiam, WA) won the High Jump with an impressive leap of 5' 7".  This mark now sits in a tie for second among all NCAA Division III indoor women's competitors for the current season.

In addition to Smith, freshman Vanessa Blanchard (Palmdale, CA) shined in the High Jump during her Bulldog debut, clearing a height of 5'5" to rank 13th among Division III.  She took third at the high-caliber meet that included teams from all three NCAA divisions.

Senior Merritt ten Hope (Phoenix, AZ) scored quality points for the Maroon and Gray by registering a mark of 10' 11 ¾" in the Pole Vault for fifth place.  Senior Lauren Tritz (Orange, CA) began her final season with the Bulldogs by leaping to eighth place in the Long Jump with a distance of 15' 10 ¼". 

On the track, senior Alexandra Blalock (Indian Wells, CA) recorded a time of 1:03.95 in the 400 Meters, while sophomore Jasmine Ramos (Santa Fe Springs, CA) fired off quality performances in the 60 Meters (8.16) and 200 Meters (26.82). 

For the men, senior Dominic Lopez (Las Vegas, NV) picked up right where he left off last season by taking third in the 800 Meters with a time of 2:00.31. 

While making their Bulldog debuts, freshmen Afari La-Anyane (Morgan Hill, CA) and Drew Heimdahl (Kirkland, WA) impressed with their top-10 showings at the meet.  La-Anyane took eighth in the 60 Meter Hurdles with a time of 8.45 to rank among the Division III's top 50 for the current season.  Heimdahl cleared a height of 6' 3 ½" in the High Jump for ninth place at the meet.

Additional highlights included senior Lant Abernathy's (Templeton, CA) ninth-place mark of 42' 1 ¼" in the Shot Put and sophomore Keaton Meidinger's (Olympia, WA) 10th-place showing in the Triple Jump (41' 5 ¼").  Furthermore, senior Taylor Browning (Carbondale, CO) uncorked a time of 22.36 in the 200 Meters for 10th place.

Overall, the women's team took seventh at the meet, while the Bulldog men finished 17th.

Redlands next heads to nearby Claremont for the Pomona-Pitzer All-Comers meet on Saturday, February 21, at 11 a.m.