Geneva, Ohio— The Toledo women's track and field team sent athletes to two competitions this weekend, the SPIRE Midwest Open and the Findlay Classic. Both sets of Rockets had outstanding performances.

"We had some very exciting things happen this weekend and a slew of personal bests," head coach Linh Nguyen said.

At the SPIRE Midwest Open in Geneva, Ohio, UT captured two event victories and set several personal bests. Among the highlights was the mile run, in which three Rockets finished in the top five. Senior Janelle Noe (4:42.80) won the race, with sophomore Athena Welsh (4:43.15) and senior Petronela Simiuc (4:47.29) both not far behind. All three times are MAC Championship-qualifying marks, in addition to being three of the fastest times in school history. Noe, Welsh, and Simiuc registered the second, third, and fourth fastest indoor track mile times in Toledo history.

"Nothing made me happier than to see Janelle's race and result," Nguyen said. "She is an inspiration to all and to see her drop her PR from 5:10 to 4:42 after all that she's had to fight through over the last couple of years just leaves me speechless. She's the living embodiment of Toledo Tough."

Also winning an event on Saturday was senior Danda da Silva, who placed first in the 400-meter with her time of 56.13. Her time was more than three seconds faster than her previous personal best and is now the third-fastest indoor 400-meter dash time in the history of the program. Junior Nautica Hill finished second with a time of 57.51.

Sophomore Tori Thompson qualified for the finals of the 60-meter dash with a personal-best time of 7.94 in prelims, then threw down another personal-best mark of 7.85 in the finals. She PR'd for a third time at the meet in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.11, good for a fourth-place finish.

Distance-wise, junior Olivia Chinn raced to a fourth-place finish in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:52.66, the first 3K race of her career. Freshman Michelle Hostettler also had a strong performance in that event, posting a time of 10:08.60, a personal best.

The Rockets' field athletes had a great weekend as well. Among the standouts was freshman Janell Rowe. Competing in the triple jump and long jump, she posted a PR in the former (38-3.25) which gave her a second place finish in that event. Competing in the Findlay Classic, junior Katie Dewey's shot put mark of 48-9.0 was a new personal best and nearly set a new school record. Kyesha Neal (48.9.50) set a UT record in 2016. Dewey's shot put performance in the shot put qualified her for MAC Championships.

On Friday at the SPIRE meet, freshmen Hannah Sponaugle (18:33.72) and Morgan Dembrowski (18:49.88) competed in the 5,000-meter run for UT.

Next up for the Rockets is a trip to South Bend, Ind. for the Meyo Invitational on Feb. 2-3.