Kent, Ohio— The Toledo women's track and field team opened up its 2018 season at the Doug Raymond Invitational on Saturday, winning five events and breaking one school record.

"I think today was a good start to the season," head coach Linh Nguyen said. "We brought home a number of event wins, MAC automatic qualifying marks, and a school record."

Katie Dewey started her 2018 campaign off in spectacular fashion, with a record-breaking mark of 55-00.0 in the weight throw. The junior broke the previous UT indoor record that was held by Kyesha Neal (53-1.50) that was set at the SPIRE Midwest Track & Field Open on Jan. 29, 2016. Dewey now holds two of the top three indoor track and field weight throw records at Toledo.

"Katie Dewey added about a meter to her weight throw PR to break the school record," Nguyen said. "Breaking a school record off the bat is a great way to start your season."

Among the first-place finishers was Jennifer Lichter, who won the 5000-meter run with a MAC Indoor qualifying time of 17:03.65, narrowly edging out the second-place finisher by just .04 seconds. Olivia Chinn won two events for the Midnight Blue and Gold, winning the mile run with a time of 5:01.39, over eight seconds faster than the next best finisher. Chinn also won the 800-meter run (2:18.85) by almost six seconds to nab her second event victory of the afternoon.

Athena Welsh bested the competition in the 3000-meter run with her personal-best time of 9:32.76, sixth-fastest in UT indoor history. The sophomore's previous best time was 9:40.40, which came at the 2017 SPIRE Midwest Track & Field Open last February. Welsh was followed by five of her teammates, giving Toledo the top six finishers in that event. Petronela Simiuc's PR (9:41.37) secured a second place finish, joining her teammate as the only two runners to break 10:00 in the 3K on Saturday. Both Welsh and Simiuc's times qualified them for MAC Indoor Championships.

Christina Johnson won the 60-meter dash for the Rockets with a time of 7.76. The junior was seeded third coming into the finals after she clocked in at 7.86 during prelims.

"Jen, Athena, and Petronela all put up strong times to lock in their MAC auto qualifiers," Nguyen said. "Olivia had a good start with two wins and Christina also took home a win in the 60m. Overall, a strong start and some really positive things to build on as we move forward."

Sally Frank (43-4.50) was the top Rocket finisher in the shot put, sixth-best all-time at Toledo and a personal best for the junior in indoor competition.

Freshman Karoline Steppin made her collegiate debut with a 17-11.00 mark in the long jump, tops on the team and the only freshman in the top five finishers for that event. Danda da Silva (25.39) was Toledo's top finisher in the 200-meter dash.

Next up for the Rockets is the Tom Wright Classic, hosted by Bowling Green. The meet will take place next Friday, Jan. 19.