By: David Woeltz ~Staff Writer~

Xavier track and field competed in its first meet of the outdoor season at the Stan Lyons Invitational hosted by Butler on March 19.

The women’s team, led by freshman Kara Robinson’s first place finish in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.43, placed fourth out of 12 teams.

“Competing in her first 400-meter hurdles in both high school or college, Kara Robinson had our only win of the meet. Coming off a great indoor season in the hurdles, Kara shows a lot of promise in the event. I think this has the potential to be her best event in college,” head coach Ryan Orner said.

The women’s team also got a boost from Victoria Chiller’s runner-up finish in the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:18.03. The junior from Mantua, Ohio was one of seven Musketeers who placed in the top five for the women.

“Tori Chiller had her highest place ever in a college meet, finishing second in the women’s 800-meter run.,” Orner said. “Tori was in roughly fifth place with 200 meters to go and she made a great move off the last turn. She was very close to the win, but ran out of room in the final stretch. I was really happy with how aggressive she raced. She’s running with confidence and it really showed today.”

The men’s team finished in eighth place in the 13 team field. They got a strong performance from sophomore Zachary Polk who is coming off of an impressive indoor season. Polk placed second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.20, just ahead of teammate Russell Platt’s time of 22.22.

“Zach and Russell both scored the men’s highest places in the 200-meter dash. Their times were solid for an early season meet in the cold,” Orner said.

The Musketeers were also aided by Nolan Daniels’ fifth place finish in the 800-meter dash with a time of 1:57.41.

Xavier will travel to the Raleigh Relays hosted by North Carolina State on March 25-26.