Rio women third at RSC Indoor Championships

Rio Grande/RSC Sports Information
     LOGAN, Ohio - Despite having its roster raveged by illness and injury, the University of Rio Grande women posted a third place finish in Saturday's 2024 River States Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship at Logan High School's Chieftain Center.
     The RedStorm, who had just 10 healthy athletes competing, captured a pair of individual championships and had two runner-up performances - one as an individual and the other in a relay.
     As a team, Rio Grande tallied 75 points to finish third among the 11 competing schools.
     Point Park University easily won the team title for the seventh consecutive season with 240.5 points, while Indiana University Kokomo was a distant second at 97.5 points.
     Rio Grande's individual championship performances came from sophomore Amarissa Kerns (Lancaster, OH), who took first place in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:44.56, and from junior Jayden Roach (Baltimore, OH), who won the 600-meter run with a time of 1:41.06.
     Roach edged junior teammate Kendra Grooms (West Union, OH) in the 600 after Grooms crossed the line in 1:42:27.
     The RedStorm's other runner-up showing came from its Distance Medley Relay unit, which posted a time of 13:21.70. The quartet included senior Mackenzie McCarthy (New Franklin, OH), Roach, sophomore Grace Forrest (Woodstock, OH) and Kerns.
     Forrest provided Rio with its final highlight of the day, qualifying for the NAIA National Championship in the 3,000-meter Race Walk.
     Forrest, who is participating in the event for the first time, finished fourth in a time of 17:45.07 to meet the "B" qualifying mark.
     Rio Grande managed 10 other scoring finishes during Saturday's action.
     The RedStorm's remaining list of notable outings included sophomore Paris DeBord (Chillicothe, OH), who was third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.01 and fourth in the 200-meter dash after crossing in 26.92; McCarthy, who was fourth in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 19:25.70; sophomore Karley Kouns (Wheelersburg, OH), who was fifth in the weight throw with a heave of 42'7" and seventh in the shot put with an effort of 35'5.25"; Grooms, who placed sixth in the high jump after clearing 4'11"; freshman Chanee Cremeens (Gallipolis, OH), who finished sixth in the shot put at 37'11" and eighth in the weight throw with a toss of 40'10"; and sophomore Megan Diven (Marion, OH), who was eighth in the shot put with an effort covering 35'2.5".
     Rio's 4x400 relay team - which included Roach, Grooms, freshman Isabella McVey (Athens, OH) and DeBord - finished fifth in a time of 4:27.21.
     Point Park had the top four point scorers in the meet.
     Leading the way was distance runner Allison Plassio, who was named RSC Women's Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. She scored a meet-high 35 points winning the 800, mile and 3,000 individually and also being a part of winning relays for the 4x800 and distance medley. Plassio beat the mile record with a time of 5:16.13 and just missed the 3,000 record held by Anna Shields, running one second off that at 10:42.
     PPU's Diamond Rush was named RSC Women's Indoor Track & Field Newcomer of the Year. The transfer was fourth overall with 28.50 points winning the 200 meters, placing second in the 60 and 400 and anchoring the first-place 4x400 relay.
     Point Park head coach Tim Creamer was selected RSC Women's Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year after leading the Pioneers to a record final point total. Point Park won 10 of the 20 women's events on the day and had numerous awardees on the podium as first, second or third.
     Sydney Duncan from IU Kokomo earned RSC Women's Field Athlete of the Year. She won both throwing events and had a meet record in the shot put. Duncan's record of 14.00 meters won the shot, while she also took the top spot in the weight throw to accumlate 20 points and rank eighth at the meet.
     The top three finishers in each event and relay were named All-RSC with gold, silver and bronze medals. The top eight finishers in each event scored points for their team. Four entries were allowed in each event per team, with all four able to be scored.
     There were six women's records set during the meet. Point Park had three of them with Plassio's record in the mile (5:16.13), Natalea Hillen's NAIA national B qualifying standard and record in the 60 meter hurdles (9.03) and Rush tying the RSC record in the 200 meters (26.06).
     Along with Duncan's record in the shot put (14.00), Jordyn Cardwell from Brescia (Ky.) broke her own record in the long jump extending to 5.43 meters, while Navaeh Brown from Midway (Ky.) increased her own meet record in the pole vault up to 3.66 meters.
     Also named was the RSC Women's Champions of Character Team with one honoree from each school who best represents the NAIA Champions of Character values of respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship.
     Roach served as Rio Grande's representative on the list.