WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester University women's track and field team is finishing its preparations for the beginning of the 2025 Outdoor season on Friday afternoon when the Golden Rams host the first day of the two-day Purple and Gold Invitational on South Campus.
This weekend's meet, which will span two days in John A. Farrell Stadium, is the first of three home meets for West Chester this spring as the Golden Rams will host the Bill Butler Invitational on April 11-12 and before concluding the regular season slate with a last chance meet on Friday, May 2.
In between its home meets, West Chester will head to Widener for the Danny Curran Invitational on March 28 and 29, William & Mary for the Colonial Relays on April 4 and 5, while also visiting Ursinus that same weekend. West Chester will also head to the Bison Outdoor Classic at Bucknell on April 11 and 12, the Paul Donahue Invitational on April 18 and 19, and the 129th Running of the Penn Relays on April 24-26. All this will build up to the PSAC Outdoor Championships at Slippery Rock in May, as the Championships will get underway on May 8 and conclude on the 10
th. West Chester will also hope to qualify for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Colorado State-Pueblo May 22-24.
West Chester heads into the outdoor season looking to build off its momentum from the 2024-25 Indoor season, which concluded with an eighth-place finish at the PSAC Championships at Rauch Field House on the campus of Lehigh University.
Annika Hummel (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg) became the Golden Rams first indoor pole vault champion with a program record-tying mark of 12 feet 1 ½ inches to start the weekend.
Hummel also turned in a fourth-place finish in the pole vault last spring, clearing a height of 12-2 ¾.
Lily Palacio Lewis (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) turned in a pair of All-Conference finishes in the 60 and 200, with third-place finishes in 7.72 and 25.43 seconds, respectively.
Palacio Lewis also finished fourth in the 200 at the PSAC Outdoor Championships last spring, crossing the line in 24.77 seconds.
Victoria Gbodi (Drexel Hill, Pa./Milton Hershey) also scored points for West Chester in the triple jump with an eighth-place finish and a mark of 37-8 ½, while
Zhayria Washington (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) led the throws squad with a seventh-place finish in the weight throw with a mark of 50-4 ½.
Kristina Tapia (Ridley Park, Pa./Ridley) led West Chester in the distance events as she completed in the mile, 3K, and 5k triple, with her top finish being a ninth-place finish in the 5K in 18:20.39.
Tapia,
Ellie Goldberg (West Deptford, N.J./West Deptford), Rebekah Burnshaw (Garnet Valley, Pa./Garnet Valley), and Haley DuBois (Germansville, Pa./Northwestern Lehigh) also led West Chester in the distance medley relay, finishing eighth in 12:43.34.
West Chester will get its Outdoor season underway on Friday afternoon with the triple jump and hammer throw highlighting field events along with the 5 and 10K on the track. Track events will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning with the 3K Steeplechase, while discus and long jump will lead off the field events at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
