Abigale Johnson's Mile Highlights CMS Women's Track and Field at the Howie Ryan Invitational

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Sophomore Abigale Johnson finished in fourth place in the one-mile run out of 25 competitors, mostly from Division I schools, to highlight the performance of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's track and field team at the Howie Ryan Invitational, hosted by the University of Houston on Friday.

Johnson finished the mile in 5:07.94, trailing only Kelsey Ramirez of Stephen F. Austin, Sierra Spinler of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, and Ryann Helmers of Rice, all Division I schools. Jordan Juran of Trinity (Texas) was the only other Division III competitor in the field, coming in seventh. Johnson's time was good enough to place her 38th nationally in NCAA Division III during indoor season.

Also coming through with a strong effort in the distance events was senior Natalie Marsh, who ran in the 3000 meters and finished sixth out of 18 runners with a time of 10:27.47.

CMS also sent several of its jumpers to Houston, among the limited numbers of competitors who traveled looking to achieve qualifying standards for the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships in March. Junior Amanda Mell led the long jumpers with a distance of 5.17 meters (16'11.5"), while sophomore Grace Pratt also had a jump of an even five meters (16'5"). 

Mell added a top effort in the triple jump of 10.80 meters (35'5.25"), while sophomore Carolyn Weisman was right behind with 10.78 meters (35'4.5"). Sophomore Deyana Marsh finished in 10.19 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, while Pratt (27.29) and Marsh (28.53) also competed in the 200 meters. 

CMS will be back in action next weekend for a much shorter road trip, as it heads across the street to participate in the Pomona-Pitzer All-Comers Meet on Saturday, Feb. 16.