Elon Takes Title at Liberty Open
LYNCHBURG, Va.  – The Elon University women’s track and field team had an outstanding performance on the final day at the Liberty Open on Saturday, Jan. 18. The Phoenix claimed the meet title with 303 points over host Liberty, who finished with 231 inside the Tolsma Indoor Track facility.

Elon also had a number of individual champions while seeing a most of its athletes rewrite the school record books.

Freshman Kimberly Johansen, in her first collegiate indoor meet, established a new school-record by nearly 11 seconds in the 1,000-meter race with her time of 2:54.55 winning the event.

Another freshman, Carrie Abraham, also had a great day overall as the Winchester, Mass., native won the women’s high jump with a cleared height of 5’5” (1.65m), edging out teammate Megan Kirschling, who finished second with the same height, but needed more attempts to advance.

In the women’s triple jump, Abraham finished as the runner-up with a distance of 36’8.25” (11.18m), the fourth-best mark in school history. Marie Borowycz had a leap of 34’7.75” (10.56m) for fourth place followed by Jayna Coyle with a her mark of 34’7” (10.54m).

Abraham added the long jump title to her accomplishments on the day after making a leap of 17’8” (5.38m).

Elon saw two more athletes claim titles in the 60-meter dash and the 60-meter hurdles. Bria Turner clocked a time of 7.98 in the 60-meter dash to take individualist honors followed by teammate Simone Jackson, who ran a time of 8.05.

Griffin ran a time of 8.92 in the 60-meter hurdles and was one of five members of the team to qualify for the finals. Jennifer Esposito was the next Phoenix to cross the line in third with a time of 9.10.

Griffin won the 200-meter dash as the Phoenix took the top six positions and dominated the event. Griffin clocked a time of 25.51 with Esposito (25.97), Pash (26.58), Turner (26.82), Jackson (26.83) and Kayleigh Birks (27.07) following, respectively.

Esposito won the 400-meters title after setting a new personal-record with a time of 58.06, besting her previous mark she set last week at the Wake Forest Invitational. Bria Bell was third with a time of 58.77 while Jennifer Pash rounded out the top-four after clocking in with 59.24.

The women’s 3,000 meter race saw the Phoenix take home another title as Elyse Bierut crossed the line with a time of 10:14.05. Freshman Shelby Cuddeback was second with a time of 10:34.86 as the maroon and gold took the top six spots of the event.

Jackie Madden won the 800-meters with an overall time of 2:24.52, edging out Liberty’s Hannah Scherlacher. Kaitlin Snapp was the runner-up in the 500-meter run with a time of 1:24.85. Tereza Novotna (1:24.96, 3^rd) and Abigail Steinsiek (1:26.10, 4^th) also competed for Elon in the race.

The Elon 4x400-meter relay “A” team finished as the runner-up behind Liberty with a time of 4:10.54. The second place standing in the race helped the Phoenix earn its first meet championship since winning the Wake Forest Invitational last season.

 

Chattanooga Competes at Niswonger Invitational
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga sophomore Teghan Henderson took first in the women’s 3000 meter invitational race and just missed the school record while senior Mark Cole outdistanced his competition in the men’s race Saturday at the Niswonger Invitational hosted by East Tennessee State. The event was run in the ETSU/MSHA Athletics Center in Johnson City.

Henderson ran the event in a time of 9:35.19, less than four seconds off the school-record time (9:31.75) set by Shannon Wommack in 2006. Just behind Henderson was former UTC runner and three-time Southern Conference champion Gina (Recher) Rouse running unattached.

Cole, back on the track after sitting out last season with an injury, was back in form. He finished the men’s 3000 meter with a time of 8:38.88, outdistancing Benedict’s Ediberto Crisanto (8:44.66) and Appalachian State’s Chris Garrett (8:45.52).

The men’s and women’s DMR teams each placed second with the women’s B team placing fourth. In the women’s race, the first UTC team placed second with a time of 12:30.38. Hannah Chamblin led off with a 4:44 1200 meter leg.

Chattanooga’s Team B ran the event in a time of 12:43.36.

The men’s DMR was led off by Trevor Janssen (Jordan Station, Ontario) and ran the race in a time of 10:14.90.

Sophomore Rebecca Greenwall finished sixth in the women’s Mile with a PR time of 5:12.83. Junior Patrick O’Brien placed ninth in the men’s Mile with a time of 4:30.21.

 

Georgia Southern Wraps Up Day Two at Niswonger Invitational
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Georgia Southern grad student Sherril McFarlane continued her assault on the list of the Eagles’ top performances at the Niswonger Invitatational today as took first place in the Mile Run Invitational with a time of 5:09.65. McFarlane improved her previous time by nearly a half second and holds onto the number-two spot on Georgia Southern’s all-time list of best performances in the Mile Run. It was McFarlane’s second first-place finish of the weekend after she claimed the top spot in the 800m invitational event Friday.

Both Cherrelle King and Asha Stegall posted personal best times in the 800m open race with King reducing her time by more than half a second.  Her previous record was set just last week at the UAB Blazer Invitational.

Sophomore Alyssa Felton posted her first distance of the season in the Long Jump at this meet. The defending Southern Conference indoor champion placed 12th in the event, just shy of a top-10 finish. Three other Eagles maximized their efforts in this event for personal records.

Georgia Southern’s freshmen distance runners also checked in for their first races of the indoor season. Katelyn Chancey finished in the top 20 of the 5,000m Run and she and Leigha Long also competed in the unseeded division of the Mile Run.

Coach Mincey had several entries for the 4X400m Relay, giving some Eagles their first-ever collegiate experience in this event.

Georgia Southern returns to practice this week, but the Eagles will not compete again until the Clemson’s Bob Pollack Invitational begins the weekend of January 31-February 1.

 

Wofford’s Hughes Sets School Record at Niswonger Invitational
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Senior runner Sam Hughes broke the indoor track and field school record for the 3K run as the Wofford men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams competed in its opening meet of the season at the Niswonger Invitational hosted by East Tennessee State University Saturday inside the ETSU/MSHA Athletics Center.

Hughes led the way for the women in track events setting a Wofford indoor track and field school record as she finished third in the 3K crossing the finish line with a time of 10:19.45. In addition to Hughes, fellow senior Alyssa Burkert took seventh place crossing the finish line at 5:26.32 in the 1 mile run.

Others that placed in track and field events for the women were senior Alissa Williams, junior Kiersten Ellsworth, and freshman Emily Williams and Alex Bidgood.

For the men in track events, sophomore Ryan Doyle finished third in the 3K with a final time of 9:22.71. In addition to Doyle, junior runner Hunter McGahee crossed the finish line in 10th place with a time of 9:27.50. Sophomore Alex Michaels also had a top-15 finish as he crossed the finish line at 4:32.62 in the 1 mile run.

Leading the way for the men in field events, sophomore Tevin Johnson claimed a seventh place finish in two events. He cleared 1.93 meters in the high jump and 6.79 meters in the long jump. In addition to Johnson, senior thrower Andrew McCurry placed 22nd in the shot put tossing a distance of 11.19 meters.

Also placing in events for the Terriers were senior Ben Boyles, juniors Travis Butler and Justin Whitaker, sophomore Stevin Bienfait, and freshman Jonathan Rice and Jurdan Mossburg.

 

Appalachian State Competes at Niswonger Invitational
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - Appalachian State women's track and field competed in the Niswonger Invitational at ETSU this weekend, finding 25 top-ten finishes.

Breanna Alston began the meet by finding a second-place finish for the Mountaineers in the 200m dash with a time of 24.50.

Shelby Howell and Taryn Stern finished fourth and fifth-place in the 800m run for the Apps with times of 2:17.52 and 2:18.23, respectively.

Katie Cagle had great meet for the Mountaineers, notching a first-place finish in the one mile run with a time of 5:16.86 and gaining a new personal-record.

Appalachian dominated the 5,000m run, finishing with six runners in the top-ten. Cagle finished second with a time of 17:42.21, followed by Brittany Williams (third), Meaghan McCauley (fifth), Kayla Schneider (sixth), Samantha Campanaro (ninth) and Allison Cook (tenth).

The 4x400 relay team of Alston, Howell, Stern and Krystal Clarke found a top-five finish, placing fifth with a time of 3:55.88.

Cassie Crawford won the pole vault event with a jump of 3.80m, while Chelsea Farr grabbed sixth-place and Debra Domermuth finished in ninth-place.

Appalachian found three top-ten finishes in the jumping events as Makayla Roten and Libby Florence each tallied an eighth-place finish in the high jump with jumps of 1.63m. Tatyana Bryant was sixth in the long jump with a jump of 11.66m.

Appalachian's throwers had a successful meet, as Brianna Tate took fourth (13.78m), Jasmine Suydam took fifth (13.23.m) and India McWhorter took eighth-place (12.80m) in the shot put. Jocelyn Parnell (17.08m) garnered third-place honors in the weight throw while Tate finished fifth (16.38m) and Gayshawna Watkins finished in tenth-place (15.51m).

Justine Stocks found a fourth-place finish in the 3,000m with a time of 10:24.28, while Tristin Van Ord was seventh with a time of 10:35.40.

 

UNCG Competes at Liberty Open
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG women’s indoor track and field team took part in the Liberty Open Saturday at the Tolsma Indoor Track in its second weekend of the season. The Spartans took home to top two times in the mile race to highlight the day’s events.

Twin sisters Shaina Sumney and Chelsea Sumney were the top two finishers in the mile distance. Shaina won the event in a personal-best time of 4:57.98 while Chelsea posted a time of 5:00.55. Additionally, Katlyn Ayers placed seventh in the race with a time of 5:28.17.

Sophomore Katherine Link took home a second place finish in the 1,000-meter distance with a time of 3:00.22 while Ayers also finished sixth in that race. The Spartans turned in a third and fourth place finish in the 800-meter run as senior Kelly Montague posted a time of 2:26.16 and sophomore Eira Jensen  notched a personal-best time of 2:27.00.