Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams turned in solid performances this past… Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams turned in solid performances this past weekend at the Slippery Rock Invitational. Although the men’s team won three events, the women stole the show with six event wins.

Along with the six first-place finishes, the women also turned in nine Eastern College Athletic Conference-qualifying performances, some of which were career marks for the Panthers.

In the long jump, Pitt took first and second with season highs from sophomore Martina Hallman, who placed first with a mark of 5.93 meters, and junior Janessa Murphy, who came in second with a mark of 5.90 meters.

Both efforts were Big East conference- and ECAC-qualifying performances, while Murphy’s was a career best. Hallman took third place both in the 100- and 400-meter hurdles events, as well, putting up personal-best times of 14.26 in the 100 and 1:02.18 in the 400.

Two Panther freshmen also set new personal-best times at the meet. Raquel Bender set a new personal-record time of 24.43 while capturing first place in the 200 meters. Rachel Botham took first in the 3,000 meters with a personal-best time of 10:46.18.

Sophomore Selena Sappleton kept the personal bests coming in the 100-meter hurdles with a top-five finish of 14.60.

Junior Julianna Reed had a great meet in hurdles, finishing first in the 400 and second in the 100. In the 400 hurdles, she turned in a time of 1:01.38, and in the 100 hurdles she finished with a time of 14.04.

Pitt finished the meet with two first-place finishes. Senior Abby Zaylor placed first in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:43.02. Junior Krystal Epps took first in the 800 meters with a time of 2:20.37, and Zaylor finished fifth at 2:25.93.

Along with the individual performances by the women, both Panther relay teams were successful over the weekend and finished second overall. The 400-meter relay team finished with a time of 48.53 while the 1,600-meter relay came in at 4:05.03.

The men’s team had three athletes stand out. Junior Eric Fleming and senior Chris Anderson won event titles in middle distance and sprints, respectively. Fleming finished first in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:57.06 while Anderson took first in the 200 meters with an IC4A-qualifying time of 21.44. Anderson also finished second in the 100 meters with a time of 10.77

Freshman Eric Jones took first in the triple jump with a new personal-best mark of 14.80 meters to qualify him for the IC4A Championships.

The team had eight top-five finishes, three IC4A-qualifying performances and one NCAA East Regional qualifier.

Pitt’s next competition will be on Saturday when the Nittany Lions host the Penn State Dual Meet in State College, Pa.