DAVENPORT, Iowa --- Highlighted by three separate first- or second-place finishes from both Ana Mendoza Pineda and Allison Ramsey, fifteen members of the University of St. Francis women's indoor track & field team scored to lead the Fighting Saints to a runner-up finish at the 2023 CCAC Indoor Championships over the weekend.

Pineda won both the 800- and 1,000-meter events with Ramsey finishing in the No. 2 spot.  The latter also claimed the individual title in the mile run in totaling 26 points, while Pineda placed second in the 600-meter run to finish with a team-best 28 points.

Pineda clocked in at 2:22.52 in the 800 and 3:00.85 in the 1,000 with the latter mark hitting the "A" standard.  Ramsey was right around one second behind in each race, finishing in 2:23.19 and 3:01.87 ("B" standard), respectively.  In the mile, Ramsey ran a 5:06.29 to automatically qualify for the NAIA National Championships.  Pineda posted a time of 1:39.79 in the 600.

Also producing a first-place effort was Katherine Bakken, who won the 3,000-meter race with her "A" standard time of 10:11.21.  She also finished third in the mile (5:14.32) to add 16 points to USF's cause.

Mara Bruno also registered 16 points and was the only Saint to score in four separate events.  Her top finish was a third-place showing in the long jump, where she covered 17 feet, 8 inches.  She also placed fourth in the 60- (7.85 seconds) and 200-meter dashes (25.59) with the latter event rating as a "B" performance.

Bruno was a part of one of two St. Francis relay teams to score, as well.  She joined Ariadna Juarez, Claire Roberts and Gianna Trenter in placing third in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 4:08.48.

Juarez and Roberts also made up half of the 4x800-meter unit that registered a fourth-place finish (10:36.66).  They were joined by Liliana Ordonez and Britney Baez.

Individually, Trenter scored in the 60-meter hurdles (4th, 9.84 seconds), Roberts in the 600 (7th, 1:49.11) and Ordonez in the 800 (7th, 2:32.07).

Bailey Wilk joined Bakken in having a strong Saturday.  She placed second in the mile (5:12.14, "B" standard) to begin the day and closed it out with a third-place finish in the 3,000 (10:23.14) to total 14 points.

Others who scored in a pair of events included Alexia Bibakis, Olivia Bukowski and Kelsey Rice.  Bibakis and Bukowski finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in both the 1,000- and 3,000-meter races.  The former posted times of 3:08.43 and 10:30.69 ("B" standard), while Bukowski clocked in at 3:10.05 and 10:48.3.

Rice provided seven points with her fifth-place effort in the 5,000-meter event (19:46.54) and sixth-place showing in the mile (5:29.86).

USF's other scoring came from Emerson Colins and Tiffany Lehmann, who both placed sixth in their respective events.  Colins clocked in at 7.96 seconds in the 60-meter dash, while Lehmann crossed the finish line in 20:38.2 in the 5,000-meter race.

St. Francis finished with 151 points by the end of the two-day meet.  Olivet Nazarene University gained the conference team title by totaling 242 points.

Notes: Earning all-conference honors by finishing in the top three in an event at the championships were Pineda (three events), Ramsey (three), Bakken (two), Wilk (two), Bruno (two), Juarez, Roberts and Trenter … A select number of Saints head to the NAIA Indoor National Championships in two weeks (March 2-4).    

Links to live coverage can be found at gofightingsaints.com/coverage. You can also keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on Twitter @USFSaints.