Washington Is Conference Champion; Beins, Fritzler, Scott Named All-Conference
Taylor Washington successfully defended her 100m Hurdle Champion title and finished second in the High Jump on Wednesday and Thursday to lead the Eutectic women's team to a fifth-place finish of 10 teams competing at the American Midwest Conference (AMC) Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Missouri Baptist University. Elizabeth Fritzler (Shot Put) and Mariah Scott (100m Hurdles) were named third-team All-Conference in their respective events, while Brock Beins received third-team All-Conference honors in the Pole Vault to lead the Eutectic men to seventh place of eight teams. Washington scored 19.25 points to lead all UHSP athletes in the meet.
Women
As the returning 2023 Outdoor 100m Hurdle champion and the 2023 and 2024 Indoor 60m Hurdle champion, sophomore Taylor Washington came into the AMC 100m Hurdle Championships as the heavy favorite, leading the Conference performance list by more than a second. In Wednesday's preliminary race, she won her heat with a time of 15.64 to qualify for the finals on Thursday. Then, she cruised to victory in the finals, beating out second-place finisher Alaina Scott from Missouri Baptist by 0.81 seconds, with a time of 15.90. Washington earned second-team All-Conference honors in the High Jump, for which she was also the defending champion from 2023 and the 2024 indoor season. Coming into the Championships with the second-best mark this season, Washington cleared 1.53m (5'0.25") on her first attempt, but could not clear the next height of 1.56m (5'01.5") – one-half inch higher than her best outdoor jump. Kaylee Clark from Williams Baptist University won the event with a leap of 1.60m (5'03").
Sophomore Mariah Scott raced to her first All-Conference award with a third-place finish in the 100m Hurdles behind teammate Washington and MBU's Scott. Her finishing time of 17.16 is her career best in the event. Scott also picked up two points with a seventh-place finish in the 400m Hurdles (1:21.52) and then combined with Washington, Arianna Buduan, and Payton Burke to score five points with a fourth-place finish in the 4x100m Relay (52.15).
Freshman Elizabeth Fritzler took third-team All-Conference honors in the Shot Put event with a new school-record mark of 11.64m (38'02.25") on her third attempt. The top three finishers in the event replicated the results of the AMC Indoor Championships where Fritzler also took third behind Kaylyn Powers of Hannibal-LaGrange University and Jeanette Woehrle of Columbia College. Fritzler's new UHSP record smashes the previous record of 11.45m (37'6.75") set by Morgan Dermody in 2021.
Freshman Alivia Simily scored six points for the Eutectics in the horizontal jumps, finishing sixth in both the Long and Triple Jumps with marks of 4.80m (15'09") in the Long Jump and 9.99m (32'09.5") in the Triple.
Freshman Paulina Gutierrez-Trejo contributed to the 19 total points that UHSP scored in the 100m Hurdle event. After qualifying for the finals on Wednesday with a personal-best time of 18.00, she finished sixth overall with a in the finals at 18.19. That added three points to Washington's 10 and Scott's six points in the event. Gutierrez-Trejo also picked up one point with an eighth-place finish in the 400m Hurdles at 1:24.08.
Freshman Payton Burke and sophomore Brianna Ramsey each finished seventh in their respective events to score two points apiece for the Eutectics. Burke finished the 400m Dash in 1:08.17, while Ramsey beat out 20 throwers entered in the Hammer Throw with a toss of 36.86m (120'11").
Sophomore Abby Baxter and freshman Hanna Burch combined for two points with their eighth-place finishes in the 3,000m Steeplechase and the Discus Throw, respectively. Baxter finished the Steeplechase with a personal-best time of 13:56.41, and Burch launched the discus 31.17m (102'03") on her first attempt. Baxter finished just out scoring range in ninth-place in the 1500m Run, but becomes the fifth-fastest runner in UHSP history in the event with a personal-best time of 5:45.28.
The 4x800m and 4x400m Relays teams also scored points for UHSP. The 4x800m team consisting of Baxter, Lilly Combs, Sophie Eastham, and Alyssa McPike finished with a time of 11:46.72 for sixth place. Scott, Burke, Baxter, and McPike combined for the 4x400m team to finish seventh at 4:55.19.
Sophomore Lannah Prysi and freshman Kelsey Honeycutt each set personal records in the Discus Throw.
Men
Junior Brock Beins was the only UHSP men's athlete to earn All-Conference honors at the outdoor meet with a third-place finish in the Pole Vault. Beins cleared 3.35m (10'11.75") for a new UHSP record in the event. The previous record was 2.75m (9'0.25") held by Alec Daily since 2011.
Freshman Jack Wolfe was the only other individual from the Eutectic men's team to score. He finished the 3,000m Steeplechase with a time of 11:41.77 for sixth-place of nine runners in the event to score six points.
Wolfe was also a part of the fourth-place 4x400m Relay Team along with Jared Morales, Zach Brasel, and Marlon Brown. The team's time of 3:33.66 beat out three other teams in the race to score five points.
The 4x800m Relay team of Brasel, Brown, Enze Hao, and Jeremy Smith scored four points for the UHSP team, finishing with a time of 9:08.06 in fifth place.
Junior Marlon Brown finished just out of scoring range with a 10th-place finish in the 400m Dash, but hit a new personal record as the fourth-fastest UHSP 400m runner in history at 53.56.
Jeremy Smith also hit a personal-best time in the 800m.
