BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- Chattanooga's junior Lesley Green and sophomore Emma Russum posted personal records Friday at the Samford Invitational in the Mocs season-opening indoor track and field meet.
 
Green finished second in the 3000 meter run with a PR time of 9:49.69, topping her previous top time by 12.37 seconds. In the Mile, Green finished with a time of 4:56.13 placing fourth overall and shaving 9.6 seconds off her personal-best.
 
Russum placed eighth in the 3000 meter, edging out her previous best time at 10:14.74. In the Mile run, she was 13^th overall finishing with a time of 5:05.78, just over six seconds better than her PR.
 
Freshman Maddie Wheatcroft was the top Chattanooga runner in the 800 meter run and posted a time of 2:21.43. Classmate Delaney Mulich was next for the Mocs with a time of 2:24.59. Wheatcroft finished ninth in the Mile with a time of 5:03.35 and fellow freshman Leah Boyd crossed the line in a time of 5:09.82.
 
Chattanooga trio Michaela Dabney (19:41.14), Allie Potter (20:44.80) and Camden Morris (20:58.24) swept the 5000 meter run taking the top three spots.
 
Gracie Morse recorded a distance of 4.83 meters in the long jump, the first of her collegiate career. She ran a 10.06 in the 60 meter hurdles while Reagan Ruth recorded a time of 9.85 and Sarah Unterholzner finished at 9.90.
 
Chattanooga will return to Birmingham for the Bulldog Invite on Friday, February 10 at the Crossplex.

FROM THE HEAD COACH
"We had a very good opening meet.  We are starting the season on a faster note than this same time last year.  Our hurdlers are better, our mid distance and distance kids are better as well.  Michalea as a freshman won her very first indoor race in the 5K to get things started.  She has had a substantial improvement in her time, and she can certainly take even more time off.  Sarah and Reagan both PR'd in the hurdles and ran pretty good races.  there are some technical improvements to be made, but they started their season off well.  Our milers ran great races everyone.  All were very smart and did not get caught up in the early pace and were able to push the second half of the race for across-the-board PRs.  In the 800 Maddie and Delaney, both freshmen, raced well again in the second half of the races and finished strong."

"The 3K was impressive.  both Leslie and Emma understood the race strategy.  Both were in the very back of the pack at 600m in the race.  both moved up throughout the race, gain momentum while getting faster each 400.  Leslie and Emma Pr'd for the second time in 1 day after running the mile only 2 hours earlier."

"Coach Gadson and Coach Griffin deserve much credit for getting the kids ready to race and having them ahead of schedule.  We actually are in a better fitness spot all around than we anticipated.  We still have a long season ahead of us, but right now the ladies are putting themselves in a good position for success!"

RESULTS

60m Dash Prelim
11	Jessika Rennich	So.	8.66
60m Hurdles Prelim
16	Reagan Ruth	Fr.	9.85
17	Sarah Unterholzner	So.	9.90
18	Gracie Morse	So.	10.06
400m Dash
18	Carley Burt	So.	1:06.29
800m Run
9	Maddie Wheatcroft	Fr.	2:21.43
13	Delaney Mulich	Fr.	2:24.59
16	Faith Brown	So.	2:27.33
17	Lexi Foley	Fr.	2:27.96
28	Sydney Cansler	Jr.	2:51.84
--	Grace Adams	Fr.	DNS
Mile
4	Lesley Green	Jr.	4:56.13	5:05.73	PR
9	Maddie Wheatcroft	Fr.	5:03.35
13	Emma Russum	So.	5:05.78	5:12.50	PR
16	Leah Boyd	Fr.	5:09.82
34	Julianna McReynolds	So.	5:35.37
3000m
2	Lesley Green	Jr.	9:49.69	10:02.06	PR
8	Emma Russum	So.	10:14.74	10:15.38	PR
18	Leah Boyd	Fr.	10:38.35
--	Morgan Oullette	Jr.	DNS
5000m
1	Michaela Dabney	Fr.	19:41.14
2	Allie Potter	So.	20:44.80
3	Camden Morris	So.	20:58.24
Long Jump
11	Gracie Morse	So.	4.83m/15-10.25
4x400 meter Relay
9	Chattanooga A		4:22.26
	L. Foley, D. Mulich, S. Unterholzner, F. Brown
10	Chattanooga B		4:28.61
	R. Ruth, C. Burt, J. McReynolds, J. Rennich