VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- VCU won its third straight Atlantic 10 Women’s Indoor Track & Field title Saturday, scoring 135 points and winning six events at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.
 
The Rams topped second-place Richmond, which finished with 100 points. George Mason was third with 89 points. UMass (73) and Duquesne (70) rounded out the top five in team scoring.
 
VCU got gold medal, record-breaking performances from Eryn Byrd in the shot put and Simone Pierre in the 200 meters. Byrd’s mark of 16.22 meters / 53’ 2.5” broke a 24-year record set by Jodi Borges of Dayton in 2000. Pierre finished the 200 in 24.11, bettering Shareese Woods’ record, set in 2007 for Charlotte. The duo were named the meet’s Most Outstanding Track (Pierre) and Field (Byrd) Performers.
 
Pierre also won the 400 meters with a 54.55 among other Saturday event champions for the Rams. Asia Powell won the 60 meter dash, Chelsea Davis took gold in the triple jump with a 12.23 meter / 40’ 1.25” leap.
 
VCU coach Jon Riley won his third straight A-10 Coach of the Year honor and his seventh overall. Dayton freshman Kendall Johnson was named Most Outstanding Rookie. She won the Long Jump on Friday with a 5.99 meter leap, and she was part of the Flyers’ fourth-place 4 x 400 relay team.
 
Other track event winners included Richmond’s Kyra Keurentjes, who clocked a 2:51.38 in the 1,000 to place first. La Salle’s Christine Mancini won the mile run, her second gold of the championship, with a 4:50.93. Duquesne’s Hannah Seitzinger took first place in the 500 meter dash with a 1:12.17. Rhode Island’s Lily Saul won gold in the 800 meters. Grace Kuhn of Loyola Chicago won the 3,000 meters with a time of 9:34.32. Loyola’s Jayla Johnson and Massachusetts’ Katelyn Gorgenyi pulled off a rare tie, with a finish of 8.73 in the 60 meter hurdles to share gold medal honors.
 
Richmond won both Saturday relays, winning the 4x400 meters at 3:46.20 and the 4x800 meters at 8:53.60.
 
Courtney Rowland from UMass was the gold medalist in the High Jump, leaping 1.73 meters and holding the tiebreaker over Duquesne’s Sadie Wetzel and Mason’s Abigail Weening, who also reached the 1.73 meter height.