Eastern Mennonite’s Hannah Chappell-Dick (Bluffton, Ohio/Bluffton) had her best showing of the year on Thursday, breaking her own school record in the 800m at the Roanoke/Virginia Tech Twilight Qualifier.
Chappell-Dick again responded with her best running against the best athletes. The freshman ran the 800m in a heat of D-I Virginia Tech athletes, and flew across the finish line in 2:13.19, shaving more than a full second off of her EMU record time. Chappell-Dick had timed a 2:14.34 in March at the George Mason Invite. She finished third at the twilight meet, crossing in front of five Hokie runners.
With the NCAA Outdoor National Championships approaching on May 23-25, Chappell-Dick is 17th in the nation in the 800m. The top 22 times at the end of the season will qualify for nationals.
Senior Michael Allen (Fork Union, Va./Louisa County) topped the field in the triple jump and upped his season best distance for the third straight time. Allen totaled 13.61m on his best attempt. He still has some work to do to qualify for nationals for a final time, as the No. 22 jumper in the nation has a distance of 14.29m.
Richard Robinson (Broadway, Va./Broadway) ran in the 110m hurdles and clocked a time of 15.75. He missed his PR, which is 15.50.
The Royals will have one more chance to improve their times for national consideration on Monday, when they head to the Swat Final Qualifying Meet, hosted by Swarthmore in Chester, Pa.