Cole and Rolander Win Individual Crowns at Dick Small

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance College women's track and field team tallied 87 points at the 14th-annual Dick Small Invitational, finishing fourth in the seven-team meet. The Jackets had seven top-three performances in the meet, while having two individuals win their respective events. [Results]

Emily Cole and Marlea Rolander each claimed event titles for Defiance. Cole won the pole vault for the second consecutive year, clearing 9-05.75. Rolander continued her impressive spring, crushing the field in the 110m hurdles with a winning time of 15.44. The Napoleon, Ohio native also teamed with Bria Gendron, Kristin Goldstein and Courtney Lantz to finish third in the 4x100 relay with a time of 54.71.

Goldstein recorded a second-place finish in the 100m with a time of 13.17, while joining Lantz, Kelly Neff and Holly Stein on DC's 4x400 relay team that finished fifth.

Alex Thiel had a trio of top-three finishes, tallying 19 points in the meet. The sophomore was second in the triple jump with a leap of 29-06.50, while finishing third in both the long jump (14-07.00) and pole vault (8-00.00). Kaitlin Switzer set a personal-record in the 1500m, crossing the line in 5:19.29 to finish fourth.

Stein led the Jackets in the throwing events, finishing second in the javelin with a career-best toss of 121-08 and fourth in the shot put. Amanda Tooley was fourth in the hammer and seventh in the shot put, while Jessica Lipstraw was seventh in the discus and eighth in the hammer.

Defiance returns to action next Saturday, March 28 at Indiana Wesleyan's Polar Bear Invitational.