EDINBORO, Pa. (February 23, 2017) – The Edinboro University women's indoor track and field team is set to field 14 competitors this weekend when they host the PSAC Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Fighting Scots look to improve on their third-place finish from a year ago when the two-day event begins Saturday, February 25 and concludes Sunday, February 26 at the Mike S. Zafirovski Sports and Recreation Dome.
 
Edinboro finished with 71 points in last year's league championships, posting their highest finish since 2013. Slippery Rock won the event last year with 135 points, while Shippensburg placed second with 117 points. The Rock and the Raiders have exchanged league crowns every year since 2007, including sharing the title in 2008 after both teams finished tied with 110 points.
 
"To match [our performance from last year], we're going to have to have people step up and win events or place very high, that's what we had a lot of last year," said head coach Anne Carlson. "Unfortunately, in our conference, the two big schools, Slippery Rock and Shippensburg, can kind of run away with points… Slippery Rock isn't quite as strong as they were a year ago, so they may not run away with as many points as they did, which will make it harder for us to place higher, because the point spread will be more spread out. But we need people to step up."
 
Sophomore thrower Gabby Schultz seeks to defend her PSAC title in the shot put, while looking to improve on her fourth-place finish last year in the weight throw. The Cleveland, Ohio native recorded a NCAA provisional mark in the shot put at the Edinboro Invitational on February 17 at 13.74m (45-01), which ranks fifth among PSAC hurlers this season. Schultz also posted a season-best 15.06m (49-05) in the weight throw at the Edinboro Invitational, which ranks eighth in the PSAC.
 
When asked about her progress since last year, Schultz said she has improved a lot, which she hopes will give her an edge entering the weekend.
 
"I definitely posted the marks earlier. Last year, I hadn't posted over 45 [feet] until PSAC. So now I posted it two weeks before, so I kind of have a little bit of an advantage that I didn't have last year... It's going to take a lot [to defend my shot put title]. It's not easy and the PSAC definitely got a lot better. But I'm excited to see these girls again. I see some of them occasionally, they come to the meets that we just have in the middle of the season, but there's a bunch of girls I don't see at all. So I'm just going to have to play the game, I guess. Just do what it takes to win. In the weight [throw], the same thing. I need to throw big, I need a PR to get there… it's going to take a bit."
 
Junior Molly Regan will compete in the pole vault after posting a NCAA-provisional height of 3.61m, a new personal best, at last week's Edinboro Invitational. Her mark ranks fourth in the PSAC. Regan placed seventh in last year's league championships with a height of 3.32m.
 
Freshman sprinter Lisa Kossmann looks to parlay her successful rookie season into a strong showing this weekend. The Germany native was named PSAC Women's Track Athlete of the Week after posting a PSAC-best 25.23 in the 200-meter dash at the Al Hall Freedom Games on January 21. Kossmann had a career-best 7.79 in the 60-meter dash at the SPIRE Midwest Open on January 27, which ranks fourth among PSAC runners.
 
Sophomore Abbey Peters will compete in the one-mile run after recording a personal-best 5:11.95 at the GVSU Big Meet on February 11. Her mark ranks ninth in the PSAC.
 
In addition, runners Pia Briger, Eve Gardner, Abbey Lang, Emily Peters and Cassie Whitmoyer are set to lace up for Edinboro this weekend. Hurlers Kathryn Broach, Neely Parsons and Samantha Seaburn will be in the throwing circle for the Fighting Scots, while Halle Lienhart and Sarah Toy are scheduled to compete in the pentathlon.
 
When looking at her team, coach Carlson highlighted several performers who she expects to have strong outings.
 
"Sam Seaburn, one of our freshmen, has been coming on strong. Her marks may not look like it on paper, but the stuff she's been doing in practice is awesome… Lisa Kossmann's being doing a lot in the sprints for us. We expect her to place high, if not win, both the 60 and the 200. In the same section, Molly Regan has been huge for us right now in the pole vault and we expect her to be top three, if not, win there too… Abbey Peters just had a huge run for us in the mile, she dropped over ten seconds [from her previous personal best]. If you think about it, on an outdoor track, a mile is just over four laps. She ran more than two-and-a-half seconds per lap faster than she'd ever ran before. So that's huge and people like that, we look at and we hope that there's more."
 
Carlson also talked about her team's potential in the distance events.
 
"We're going to use our distance kids maybe in relays a little more than we have in the past… but we can rack up a lot of points in those relays, as well. In our conference, we run a distance medley relay and a 4x800, along with the 4x400, as well. But by running that DMR and that 4x800, our middle-distance kids can score a lot of points there, working as a team and not necessarily having to do all the individual events."
 
Full List of PSAC Qualifiers:
Pia Briger
Kathryn Broach
Eve Gardner
Lisa Kossmann
Abbey Lang
Halle Lienhart
Neely Parsons
Abbey Peters
Emily Peters
Molly Regan
Gabby Schultz
Samantha Seaburn
Sarah Toy
Cassie Whitmoyer