JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.— The Montreat women's track & field team split its squad this weekend, taking athletes to both the Buccaneer Invitational, hosted by East Tennessee State University, and the Camel City Invite in Winston-Salem, N.C. Overall, the Cavaliers used outstanding efforts to place well against top talent.
 
On Thursday, Anna Tastinger started things off with the pentathlon. The Franklin, N.C. native utilized a fifth-place finish in the pentathlon high jump (1.46m; 577 points) to end eighth with 2451 total points in the five-event competition.
 
Saturday featured a plethora of events at both locations as nine athletes competed at ETSU and five others ran at JDL. In the field at the Buccaneer invite, Jessica Gakeri launched herself 5.14m to place 12^th in the long jump, while Makayla Anderson was the top Cavalier finisher in the weight throw (10.35m; 30^th) and Kenzie Card notched 33^rd (9.20m).
 
Nia Perryman ran short distance at the meet, ending 54^th in the 400m (1:13.59) and 62^nd in the 200m (28.27). Four long-distance runners participated in the 5k event, finishing within nine spots of each other. Lillie Siniard led the Cavs with a 13^th-place result (19:53.00), and Jenna Mallory followed her teammate closely (20:11.92; 14^th). Newcomers Hannah Larios (20:40.57; 17^th) and Ashley Jones (21:53.60; 21^st) also ran in the event.
 
On day one at the Camel City Invitational, the team of Yessenia Castellanos, Kilia Hasty, Emily Standifer and Dylan Garcia pushed Montreat to a third-place result (12:41.49) in the Distance Medley Relay. Standifer captained the Cavaliers in the 600m race, crossing 13^th (1:43.93), while Catherine Slack (1:48.24; 18^th) and Hasty (1:49.37; 20^th) tallied finishes in the event as well.
 
Saturday at ETSU, three athletes took to the track and field. In the 800m race, Raquel Smith crossed 38^th (2:45.81). Gakeri propelled herself an impressive 11.28m in the triple jump to end third out of 21 participants. Her mark was just .05m off the school record and qualified as an NAIA "B" standard. Anderson registered a 9.73m-long throw (27^th) in the shot put to capture the school record.
 
In Winston-Salem, four athletes competed in races on day two. Castellanos concluded ninth in the 1,000m event with a time of 3:08.28. Garcia and Mahaley Cronk both ran in the 800m, with the former concluding 13^th (2:20.95) and the latter finishing 32^nd (2:33.37) in the massive field. Facing tough competition, Slack recorded the 47^th-best time in the 3,000m event (11:12.16).
 
For the full results from the Buccaneer Invitational, click here. For the results from the Camel City Invite, click here.
 
Women's track and field continues its indoor season with the JDL February Multi Meet on Monday and Tuesday in Winston-Salem, N.C.