RedStorm women claim RSC Indoor title

Rio Grande/RSC Sports Information
     MARIETTA, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande women's track & field team recorded a dominant performance and easily captured the 2025 River States Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship, Saturday afternoon, at Marietta College's Dyson Baudo Recreation Center.
     The RedStorm finished with 178 points, easily outdistancing runner-up Indiana University Kokomo (126 points). Brescia University rounded out the top three with 109 points.
     Rio Grande picked up 94 of its points in distance events. Each of the team's eight individual gold medals came in track events of 400 meters or longer, with six coming in distances of 800 meters or longer.
     The RedStorm relied on two athletes heavily, with both winning three gold medals and emerging with conference hardware.
     Junior Amarissa Kerns (Lancaster, OH) was named RSC Track Athlete of the Year, winning the mile run (5:20.02), 3,000-meter run (10:27.68) and 5,000 meter race (18:01.94).
     Her teammate, sophomore Laura Hamm (South Point, OH), also won three gold medals to pick up Newcomer of the Year honors - an award she also won the during the cross country season.
     Hamm won the 600- (1:39.17), 800- (2:23.26), and 1,000-meter (3:04.35) events during her first trip to the RSC Championships.
     Rio Grande also received first place finishes individually from freshman Kylie Montgomery (Coal Grove, OH), who won the 400 with a time of 1:01.21 and redshirt junior Grace Forrest (Woodstock, OH), who took top honors - while also hitting the "A" qualifying standard - in the 3,000-meter race walk with a time of 14:48.81.
     The RedStorm had a slew of other performances which produced points by virtue of a Top 8 finish.
     The list included senior Jayden Roach (Baltimore, OH), who was second in the 600 with a time of 1:40.88; junior Paris DeBord (Chillicothe, OH), who was third in the 55-meters with a time of 7.46 and fifth in the 200-meter with a time of 27.17; graduate senior Mackenzie McCarthy (Akron, OH), who was third in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:54.77, third in the 5,000 with a time of 19:03.14 and fourth in the mile at 5:33.36; freshman Rebecca Cadle (Bidwell, OH), who was third in the pole vault with an effort of 3.30m, sixth in the 55 meters with a time of 7.70 and seventh in the 55-meter hurdles after posting a mark of 9.52; senior Kendra Grooms (West Union, OH), who was fourth in the 400 after crossing in 1:02.50 and fourth in the 600 with a time of 1:42.13; sophomore Rebecca Spohn (New Concord, OH), who was fourth in the 3,000 race walk with a "B" standard qualifying time of 17:53.46; Hamm, who was fifth in the mile run at 5:38.48; senior Chianti Marks (Birmingham, England), who was fifth in the triple jump at 9.66m; Montgomery, who placed seventh in the 55-meter dash after crossing in 7.80 and eighth in the 200 with a mark of 28.03; freshman Stella Gilcher (Amesville, OH), who was seventh in the pole vault at 2.55m; freshman Makayla Bryant (Gallipolis, OH), who was fourth in the triple jump at 9.80m, seventh in the long jump with a leap of 4.69m and eighth in the 55-meter dash with a mark of 7.85; and freshman Kylie Gilmore (Ironton, OH), who was eighth in the 3,000 race walk with a time of 19:25.78.
     On the relay side of things, Rio's 4x400 team - which included Roach, Grooms, Hamm and Montgomery - finished first in a time of 4:09.89.
     The 4x800 relay quartet - comprised of Forrest, Spohn, Gilmore and freshman Samantha Kiprono (Kenya) - was sixth after crossing in 11:32.54, while the Distance Medley Relay team was seventh in 14:50.92. The DMR unit included Gilmore, Gilcher, Spohn and Forrest.
     Rio Grande's Matt Paxton was named RSC Women's Coach of the Year.
     The most decorated athlete at the Championship was Brescia's Jordyn Cardwell, the RSC Field Athlete of the Year. The Bearcat won four gold medals and added a silver, placing first in the long jump, triple jump, 55 meters, and 200 meters and coming in second in a dramatic high jump event.
     Cardwell's win in the 200 meter dash may have been the most exciting of the weekend, as the standout bested St. Mary-of-the-Woods' Hope McGuire for gold by one-hundredth of a second.
     Rio Grande's national qualifiers will now turn their attention to the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championship, which is scheduled for Feb. 27-March 1, in Gainesville, Fla.
     All qualifying athletes will be announced in the coming week.