In her final season as a Warrior, battling to the end in true Hannah fashion she came away with two U SPORTS medals from the 2023 Championships.
Heading into the Championships as the top ranked Pentathlete, expectations were high. Starting off with her 60m Hurdles Hannah ran her third fastest PENT 60mH time ever in 8.79, ranking her third after the first event. Moving on to High Jump Hannah found her groove jumping a season’s best in the PENT HJ and tying her season’s best in open HJ with 1.71m. She placed second in the event. Next up was Shot Put where she threw 11.05m, a sub-par result placing 5th and then ranking her 5th after three events. Long Jump was next where Hannah had her best series of jumps ever finishing with 5.64m, just off her personal best, placing her third in the event and putting her closer to medal contention heading into her final event. Before she could focus on her final event she lined up with her 4x200m teammates minutes after her third long jump and only minutes before her 800m. The team came away with 11th place, one spot higher than where they were ranked coming into the Championships.
Hannah was in medal contention heading into the 800m but would have to run a massive personal best and finish several seconds ahead of the first two ranked competitors to upgrade from bronze. With the other two athletes running their best 800m ever Hannah finished 3rd in the event and settled for bronze overall.
Hannah battled many emotions, sickness and showed incredible strength shifting her focus from the pentathlon to the relay. Her total score of 3954 points is her second best score ever and a performance to be proud of. She made her teammates, coaches and fans incredibly proud.
Determined to end her career on a higher note, Hannah returned to competition Saturday in the open High Jump where she came in ranked 4th. She showed poise, strength and composure amongst her competitors clearing her first three opening heights on her first attempt. With three jumpers left in the competition at 1.70m Hannah cleared the height on her last attempt moving her into the top 2. In her best jump of the season she cleared 1.73m on her second attempt which earned her a second medal at the meet, this time silver. Hannah’s resilience to come back after her disappointment on day one is something that will never be forgotten.
She was the Warriors top scorer with 14 points helping the women’s team to an 11th place finish overall with 20 points, the highest the women have seen in over 20 years.
