SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Graduate student Delaney Beard (Sinking Spring, Pa./Governor Mifflin) broke her own school record in the triple jump, Sophia Knerr (Columbia, N.J./North Warren Regional) placed third in the 5k and the 4x100 meter relay team made it three bronze medals for the Kutztown University women's track & field team as it closed the 2025 PSAC Outdoor Championships with a seventh-place team finish on Saturday in Slippery Rock.
 
Beard, a Berks County native, matched her former school record with a jump of 11.87m (38-11.75) on her second attempt of the day. She would set the new program standard during her fifth attempts, leaping 11.90m (39-0.50) to capture the bronze medal and All-PSAC Third Team honors. It was Beard's second straight medal-winning performance in the triple jump at the PSAC Outdoor Championships after taking silver a season ago.
 
After turning in a 47.50 –tied for third all-time at KU—in yesterday's 4x100m relay prelims to be seeded third for Saturday's final, the Golden Bears' relay squad of Taniyah Lawler (Chester, Pa./Chester), Beth Schearer (Springfield, Pa./Springfield), Raechel Bonner (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) and Brook Smith (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) went for the top of the charts. They matched their seeding with a third-place finish, bronze medal and All-PSAC Third Team honors but set a new school record of 47.20 in doing so. The time was three-tenths better than the 47.50 they ran on Friday and surpassed the 47.37 that Schearer, Bonner and Smith ran in this year's outdoor opener in Lynchburg, Va., with Kiana Young (East Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg).
 
Knerr backed up her second-place finish in Friday's 3000m steeplechase with a third-place run in the 5000m on Saturday. She finished in 18:25.66 to earn All-PSAC Third Team accolades in the event. Knerr, from Columbia, N.J., was also recognized as the 2025 PSAC Women's Outdoor Track & Field Champion Scholar, presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average competing at each of the PSAC's championship sites. Knerr achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA when she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in social work this past December. She's currently a first-semester graduate student pursuing a social work master's.
 
KU featured a number of point scorers, Saturday, as they racked up 34 of them on the final day of competition.
 
Freshman thrower Maria Clark (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg) finished just outside the medals with an impressive fourth-place finish in the shot put. Her best throw of 13.20m (43-3.75) ranked sixth in program history.
 
Schearer and Bonner combined for four points in a windy 200m final, Schearer taking sixth in a 24.72 (3 pts.) and Bonner eighth in 25.22 (1 pt.).
 
Mackey Donovan (Blauvelt, N.Y./Tappan Zee) captured sixth in the 800m final, timing in at 2:18.86 after two laps around the SRU track. KU also had a pair of pole vaulters score with Taylor Funk (Denver, Pa./Cocalico) seventh after clearing 3.52m (11-6.50) and Marissa McNamee (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) eighth with the same clearance. Funk got seventh by virtue of clearing 3.37m (11-0.75) on her first attempt to McNamee's third.
 
Deandra Young (East Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg) finished eighth of 24 runners in the 1500m to claim one point.
 
The Golden Bears finished seventh in the team standings in sixth with 48 points, edging Seton Hill by one. Host Slippery Rock easily won its second team title in the last three years with 171 points, 74 ahead of runner-up Millersville (97). California (Pa.) was third with 82 points, East Stroudsburg fourth with 70 and Shippensburg completed the top five with 69.
 

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PSAC OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Thursday-Saturday, May 8-10, 2025 | Slippery Rock, Pa. | Slippery Rock University
 
KUTZTOWN WOMEN'S RESULTS

SATURDAY, MAY 10
 
TEAM: 7th/15 (48 pts.)
 
100m Final (8 competitors)
None
 
200m Final (8 competitors)
6. Beth Schearer (Springfield, Pa./Springfield), 24.72w, 3 pts.
8. Raechel Bonner (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin), 25.22w, 1 pt.
 
400m Final (8 competitors)
None
 
800m Final (8 competitors)
6. Mackey Donovan (Blauvelt, N.Y./Tappan Zee), 2:18.86, 3 pts.
 
1500m (24 competitors)
8. Deandra Young (East Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg), 4:49.19, 1 pt.
15. Jensen Kraft (Nutley, N.J./Saint Mary), 4:54.68
 
5000m (20 competitors)
3. Sophia Knerr (Columbia, N.J./North Warren Regional), 18:25.66, 6 pts., All-PSAC Third Team
18. Maura Lenhart (Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh), 19:25.37
 
100m Hurdles Final (8 competitors)
None
 
400m Hurdles Final (8 competitors)
None
 
4x100m Relay Final (8 teams)
3. Kutztown 'A' (Lawler, Schearer, Bonner, Smith), 47.20, 6 pts., All-PSAC Third Team, 1st all-time at KU
 
4x400m Relay (15 teams)
11. Kutztown 'A' (Lawler, Donovan, D. Young, Schearer), 4:03.83
 
Pole Vault (21 competitors)
7. Taylor Funk (Denver, Pa./Cocalico), 3.52m (11-6.50), 2 pts.
8. Marissa McNamee (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin), 3.52m (11-6.50), 1 pt.
T-11. Natalie Holland (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg), 3.37m (11-0.75)
T-16. Andrea Danciu (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin), 3.22m (10-6.75)
 
Triple Jump (19 competitors)
3. Delaney Beard (Sinking Spring, Pa./Governor Mifflin), 11.90m (39-0.50), 6 pts., All-PSAC Third Team, 1st all-time at KU
 
Shot Put (20 competitors)
4. Maria Clark (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg), 13.20m (43-3.75), 5 pts., 6th all-time at KU
19. Sofia Beard (York, Pa./Red Lion), 10.56m (34-7.75)
 
Javelin (20 competitors)
None