LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.—The Iowa State women's track and field opened up the outdoor season with two regional qualifiers on the first day of the Walt Disney World Invitational on Friday at the Wide World Sports Complex.
Senior Rebecca Williams and freshman Jenna Caffrey opened up the outdoor season in the 100-meter hurdles with qualifying times for the finals. The nine finalists will compete at 1:55 p.m. Williams goes into the competition with the third fastest time with in the field with a time of 13.71 while Caffrey goes in with the seventh fastest time of 14.31. Williams' time qualifies her for the Midwest regional meet held May 25-26 in Des Moines, Iowa.
“The goal of the first outdoor meet of the season is to get a race in and adjust to longer distance and the wide open spaces,” sprints and hurdles coach Scott Roberts said. “We've only had one practice outdoor prior to coming out here so I was relatively pleased with the baseline performances that we posted today”
Also qualifying for the Midwest regional meet was senior Jenny Mockler. Mockler took third in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:09.02. The 2006 Big 12 indoor 800-meter champion, Althea Chambers, took the race with a time of 2:08.33.
Senior Priya Hoze started her outdoor season off with a strong leap in the long jump. Hoze earned a second-place finish with a jump of 19-2.
The women finished out the day with senior Sara Boisen in the 400-meter hurdles. This was the West Des Moines, Iowa, native's first 400-meter hurdle race of the year, finishing with a time of 1:00.90 to take third.
Competition will resume tomorrow at 11 a.m. with the women's shuttle hurdle relay. Field events begin at noon with the men's shot put and pole vault. The meet will conclude with the men's 4x400-meter relay, set to run at 4:25 p.m. All times are Eastern Standard Time.