HARRISONBURG, Va. - The Bridgewater College women's track and field team finished the first day of the 2026 ODAC outdoor track and field championships in third place with 43 points. Bridgewater's meet was highlighted by Abby Mikolay and Summer Wallace winning ODAC championships in their respective events.
Bridgewater began their friday afternoon with Summer Wallace and Olivia Crigger placing on the podium in the women's long jump. Both competitors eased their way into the final, with Wallace ultimately claiming gold with a 5.70-meter penultimate jump. Wallace's jump landed her the 13th best mark in the nation this season. Crigger sat fifth entering her final jump. A 5.45-meter jump elevated Crigger to third on the leaderboard, giving the Eagles 16 points to start the meet.
Simultaneously, Abby Mikolay was competing in the second flight in the women's shot put. Despite a rough start, Mikolay eased her way into the finals with a 12.14-meter throw on her second attempt. Sitting in third on her final attempt, Mikolay launched the weighted ball 12.86 meters to land first, and earn 10 more points for BC. Mikolay competed in the hammer throw later and placed sixth with a top throw of 41.95 meters.
Afterwards, Wallace was joined by Maddie Watson in the high jump. Wallace eased her way through the early stages of the competition, as she recorded a clean sheet through the 1.47m, 1.52m, 1.57m, and 1.60m thresholds. Wallace knocked the bar for the first time in the meet at the 1.63 threshold, but managed to clear the bar on her final attempt. Wallace ultimately faltered at the 1.66 threshold after a long duel with W&L's Camille Gillum. Watson found herself on the brink of elimination at the 1.57-meter threshold, but cleared the bar on her final attempt. Watson placed fourth after failing to clear the 1.60-meter threshold. Wallace and Watson collected 13 more points for Bridgewater.
Destiny Joseph scored a point for the Eagles in the javelin throw. Joseph threw for 28.09 meters on her second attempt for an eighth-place finish and a new personal best.
Bridgewater also set a good foundation for the finals on the track side tomorrow afternoon. Watson and Crigger both qualified for the finals in the 100-meter hurdles. Watson clocked 14.93 in the second heat to earn the privilege to run in lane four tomorrow. Crigger placed third in the first heat and fifth in the preliminaries with a time of 15.55. Malia Stewart was the first competitor out of the finals with a time of 17.68.
Wallace also qualified for the women's 400-meter dash with a 58.34 run in the prelims. Wallace posted the third-fastest time and won the third heat.
Kasi Showers qualified for the finals in the women's 400-meter hurdles after recording the sixth-best time in the prelims. Showers clocked 1:11.46 to qualify for the finals tomorrow. Joseph was edged out for the final spot of the finals by milliseconds, clocking 1:12.31.
Jade Buckles won her heat in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Buckles registered the fastest time in the prelims of the 100-meter dash, clocking a new personal best and the 33rd best time in DIII this season of 12.08 seconds.
Buckles and Wallace ran the second and third best times in the prelims of the 200 respectively. Buckles clocked 24.83, the fastest time in the second heat. Wallace followed with a 25.14 sprint in the third heat.
Shiloh Thompson capped the day with a personal-best 43:32.52 performance in the women's 10k.
Bridgewater finished the first day of the championships in third place with 43 points. Lynchburg sits in second with 58 points, and Washington and Lee leads the pack with 93 points. The final day of the ODAC championships will begin tomorrow at 10 a.m. with the women's triple jump. The meet will be streamed live on FloCollege.
