Senior Pernilla Savestrand won a pair of distance events on Saturday.
SAN MARCOS — Senior Pernilla Savestrand recorded the second-fastest 3,000-meter steeplechase time in school history and won the 800 meters to highlight action for the UTSA women’s track & field team Saturday at the Texas State Invitational.
Savestrand cruised to an easy win in the steeple, stopping the clock in a personal-best time of 11:26.26 to better her previous season best of 11:55.62 posted at the Trinity Alumni Classic on April 10. The time moved the Gothenburg, Sweden, native into the No. 2 position on UTSA’s all-time performers list behind Leticia Cerna’s school record 10:47.54 from 2004.
She led a 1-2-4 showing by the Roadrunners in the steeple, as sophomore Courtney Nelson cross second in 11:52.89, a personal best effort that kept her in the No. 4 spot on the school’s career chart. Freshman Jessica Bitterly placed fourth in 12:12.97, moving her into fifth on the same list.
Savestrand also raced to a comfortable win in the 800m, clocking a season-best 2:14.51 to finish ahead of Ryann Bradford of Texas State (2:16.85).
The 4x400m relay team of junior Shavonne Armbrister, senior Jessica Jones and freshmen Marissa Cooksey and Nicole Washington also picked up a gold medal with a 3:55.71 clocking, which was just ahead of Texas State’s runner-up time of 3:56.18.
Armbrister and Cooksey finished 2-3 in the 400m, but were the top two collegians behind Kendra Chambers (55.42). Armbrister crossed in a season-best time of 56.17 and Cooksey was close behind in 59.85.
In the throws, freshman Stacia Newton finished second in the shot put with a 13.06m (42-10 ¼) measurement and third in the discus with a season-best 44.38m (145-7) effort that moved her into the No. 4 position on UTSA’s all-time performers chart. Junior Taelor Wilson picked up a third-place ribbon in the hammer with a 44.53m (146-1) mark, while freshman Jaimeé Bennett was fourth in the discus with a season-best 43.43m (142-6) toss, moving her into fifth place on the school’s career list.
In other action, freshman Jessica Edwards leaped to a third-place mark of 5.48m (17-11 ¾) in the long jump, while junior Rebekah Hill skipped to a third-place measure of 11.54m (37-10 ½) in the triple jump.
UTSA is back in action next Saturday, May 1, at the Texas Invitational in Austin.