The women’s track and field team competed in the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania this past weekend. Senior Kourtney Marquis had the ‘Cats most outstanding individual performance as she placed sixth in the pole vault. The women’s relay teams had a great weekend too, as they grabbed second place in the Distance Medley Championship of America and placed fourth in the 4×1,500-meter.

The team has performed well this year. At one point in the indoor season, the team ranked 14th in the nation. Junior distance runner Frances Koons has been the most outstanding player on the team this year. Koons was named the Mid-Atlantic Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year and the Women’s Most Outstanding Track Performer at the indoor Big East championships. Koons then ran at the NCAA indoor championships in the 3,000-meter run and finished eighth. So far in the outdoor season, Koons has hit the NCAA Regionals-qualifying mark in the 1,500-meter and the 800-meter.

Shadowed a little bit by Koons’ outstanding year, senior Monique Morgan has been phenomenal as well. Morgan also competed at the NCAA indoor championships this year in the 60-meter hurdles and she too finished in eighth place. Right before the championships, Morgan ran in the ECAC championships, set a meet record in the 60-meter hurdles and won the Big East 60-meter hurdles championship. In the outdoor season, Morgan qualified for the NCAA Regionals in the 100-meter and the 400-meter hurdles in the first meet of the year.

Complementing the strong performances from the upperclassmen, freshman Theresa Rush also stood out. Early on in the indoor season, Rush set a meet record in the 1,000-meter and hasn’t slowed down since. In the outdoor season, Rush has run under the Big East championships-qualifying mark in both the 1,500-meter and the 5,000-meter.

The team will continue its spectacular season as it heads to the Big East championships this weekend.