NACOGDOCHES, Texas – MIA RIVERA and HAILEY RODRIGUEZ continue to push program standards, setting St. Edward's women's track and field records at the Carl Kight Lumberjack Invitational hosted by Stephen F. Austin University. 
 
"The women had a strong showing this weekend with great performances across the board," St. Edward's Head Track & Field Coach Steven Cary says. "I'm happy with where we're at mentally and physically." 
 
St. Edward's distance runners excelled in the 5K, producing four personal-best performances, paced by Rivera's third-place finish of 17:33.37. Rivera set a new program record for a second consecutive meet. CAROLINE WILDRICK shifted down from the 10K in the previous meet to a new personal best in the 5K at 18:11.92. SYDNEY SMITH and SAMMY SALAZAR also set personal bests of 18:56.42 and 19:09.79. 
 
"Friday was a good night for our distance folks. Mia continues to do awesome things and competed very well in her race. The race wasn't very fast early on, but she hammered the last mile to lower her school record even more," Cary says. "I also have to give a shoutout to Sydney for breaking into the sub-19 club. It's been a long time coming. Friday was a good night for our distance folks." 
 
JULIANA MERLO led six Hilltoppers in the 1,500-meter run at 4:41.30, placing ninth. DELANEY LONG gave St. Edward's another top-20 finish at 4:51.93. MAGGIE RITTMEYER placed fourth in the 10K. 
 
"Jules was close to a personal best, so she's starting to round into form. We saw a lot of consistency among the 1500 group," Cary says. "There were encouraging races from some of our women returning from injuries, which is always great. I'm proud of Maggie for braving the 10K again." 
 
On Saturday, the 4x100 Relay team of JASMINE COOKE, Rodriguez, KARLY WEYAND, and AUDREY WISTAIN clocked a time of 48.18, placing fifth. 
 
Wistain continues to ramp up in her final season. She paced herself with a qualifying time of 15.17 in the preliminaries and then clocked a fourth-place finish of 14.90 in the finals, just a fraction of a second off her previous best. 
 
Rodriguez matched her school record of 56.39 in the 400, placing third, and TORI PONCE ran a new personal best of 1:03.72. Rodriguez also ran a 25.83 in the 200. SARAH WILLSON and Merlo finished with top-10 finishes in the 800. Willson clocked a 2:15.72 for fifth, and Merlo's 2:17.17 was good for seventh. KARLY WEYAND clocked a new persona-best in the 400-meter hurdle at 1:07.97. 

"We had some great performances on Saturday. The women's 4x100 got the baton around the track and showed a lot of poise. Audrey showed she's rounding into form by qualifying for the finals in the 100 hurdles, then running her fastest time in two years," Cary says. "Hailey demonstrated her fitness and consistency by matching her current record in the 400 and a big race in the 200. Sarah and Jules both looked good in the 800. We're getting better, but we still have work to do. This weekend was a nice step.
 
The sprinters will travel this week to participate in the Jim Mize Invitational hosted by Louisiana Tech. St. Edward's entire team will return to the track on Saturday, April 26, for the J. Fred Duckett Twilight hosted by Rice University.