SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Despite cold, wet and windy weather, Davina Carr broke her own school record in the pole vault and Molly McDonald recorded a personal best in the high jump to headline opening day efforts for the University of Mary at the 2016 Northern Sun women's outdoor track & field championships.
 
Both Carr and McDonald posted runner up finishes for the Marauders, who registered 20 points and sit in seventh place after day one of the NSIC championships. U-Mary is the four-time defending champion.
 
A two-time All-American, Carr cleared the bar at 13-00.75 to take second in the event. She established a new outdoor record for the Marauders, breaking her old mark set earlier this season by 2.75". Her mark is also an NCAA provisional qualifying height. Ranked tenth nationally entering the weekend, the native of Nine Mile Falls, Washington, may move up a couple slots.
 
McDonald claimed second in the high jump after leaping 1.72 meters. Though the Lakewood, Colorado, native tied for the best mark of the day with an NCAA provisional qualifying measurement, she placed second due to tiebreaking procedures.
 
The senior also qualified for the finals in the 100 meter hurdles. McDonald cleared the barriers in a provisional qualifying time of 14.25 seconds to place fifth and advance to Saturday's championship.
 
Two other Marauders also scored team points on opening day. Senior Faith Kjelstrup finished sixth in the long jump at 5.63 meters. In the javelin, Miranda Ripplinger placed eighth with a top toss of 34.12 meters.
 
U-Mary will have a strong contingent in the track finals on Saturday as the Marauders claimed ten slots through the preliminaries.
 
Three Marauders freshmen qualified for the 1,500 meter finals. Savannah Childers had the seventh best time overall, clocking in at 4:54.07. After the top three runners in each of the three heats automatically advanced, Jackie Harmon grabbed the tenth slot with her time of 4:54.76. Snaring the 12^th and final slot was Jaiden Schuette with a mark of 4:58.12.
 
Tonie-Ann Pandohie advanced to the finals in two events. The sophomore All-American from Kingston, Jamaica, was fifth in the 200 meter preliminaries with a time of 25.03 seconds. She will also run in the 100 meter finals after claiming sixth in the preliminaries with a mark of 12.22 seconds. One of the nation's leaders in the 100 meter hurdles, an early misstep caused Pandohie to not qualify in the event.
 
U-Mary will have a pair of competitors in two of Saturday's final events. Melanie Rodriguez and Chante Spotser both earned spots in the 400 meter finals. The All-American junior Rodriguez took third while the freshman Spotser was seventh.
 
Josie Guptill and Julia Hammerschmidt both advanced in the 400 meter hurdles. Guptill, a senior All-American from Quinn, South Dakota, grabbed third while the freshman from German was sixth.
 
The finals begin on Saturday, May 14, with field events at 11 a.m. and running at 1 p.m.
 
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