Troy University Athletics
Day Two of FSU Relays Complete
3/27/2010 2:00:00 AM | Track & Field
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The second day of the FSU Relays was another successful day for the Troy University track and field team with several personal best marks met throughout the day.
Following are the results and breakdown of the events that were contested on Friday morning, afternoon and evening:
In the decathlon, junior Grant Bullington finished with 6,183 points for the Trojans - claiming a third place finish; while in the heptathlon, junior Chontia Allen finished with 3,864 points - claiming a seventh place finish. Bullington set a new personal best with his point total, and jumped to the fourth best mark all-time in the decathlon at the school.
The decathlon started off with a bang as Bullington finished third in the first event of the day, running a time of 15.91 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles - a new personal best, and the third in two days for Bullington. He finished fourth in the discus in the combine event, throwing a distance of 29.56 meters (97-00.00). Following the discus, Bullington narrowly missed his personal best in the pole vault competition of the decathlon, clearing a height of 4.05 meters (13-03.50).
The final two events of the day for Bullington in decathlon came in the form of the javelin and the 1500-meter run. In the javelin, Bullington recorded a distance of 33.46 meters (109-09.00), while in the 1500-meters he ran a time of 5:06.84.
In the heptathlon, Allen recorded a distance of 4.94 meters (16-02.50) in the long jump - the first event of the day in the combined event. The jump was good enough for a seventh-place finish for Allen, keeping in her position for the top 10 finish in the heptathlon. Allen followed the long jump up with a seventh-place finish in the javelin competition portion of the combined event - throwing a distance of 24.72 meters (81-01.00). Allen finished the heptathlon with a time of 2:41.91 in the 800-meters.
The individual and relay competitions got underway on Saturday with the hammer throw for the women, but started at Mike Long Track with the 4x100-meter relay event.
In the hammer, senior Tiphanie Baker was up to her old tricks on Saturday morning as she captured yet another gold in the hammer throw. Forced to throw at an off-site arena due to the weather on Friday, Baker came out of the gates with her biggest throw of the day. The senior finished first with a distance of 53.64 meters (176-00).
Freshman Byrnn Forsythe finished ninth in the event with a throw of 41.76 meters (137-00), while sophomore Lauren Howell had a big personal best throw of 40.18 meters (131-10). She set a new PR by almost a meter, finishing her throws on Friday before the rains came.
The women's 4x100-meter relay team Ariel Cavazos, Ja-Courteny Alexander, Latoya Ragland and Naquita Rowe was matched up with the likes of Florida State and Tennessee in the first flight of the event. All six teams in heat with the Trojans were match up evenly throughout the race, with the Trojans finishing fourth overall in the flight with a time of 46.64 seconds. The team also finished fourth overall, but improved their time on the season by besting their time of 47.89 seconds set earlier this season.
On the men's side of the 4x100-meter relay; the team of Neko Freeman, Antonio McLeod, Stanley Arukwe and Payton McGhee was matched up with Tennessee and Florida State and proved they belonged in the event as they made up ground when McGhee got the baton on the fourth leg.
McGhee ran sub-10 second time on the final leg to help the Trojans cross the line third with a time of 40.87 seconds. The split ran by McGhee is the fastest time registered by a Trojans in the 100-meters this season and would have shattered the school record if it was an individual race.
Next up on track was the 100-meter hurdles for the women with a trio of Trojan competing in the event. In the opening flight of the event, Latoya Ragland finished second in the flight with a time of 13.78 seconds and finished second overall in the event.
However, teammate Naquita Rowe finished with a time of 14.84 seconds in the event after she clipped a hurdle near the beginning of the race, finishing 14th overall. The race this weekend was the first 100-meter hurdles for the duo this spring. Teammate Jasmine Patton was also in the event, running a time of 15.30 seconds in the third flight of the events - a new personal best for the redshirt freshman - finishing 16th overall in the event.
In the 400-meter dash for the Trojans, freshman Ja-Courteny Alexander ran away from the field down the backstretch in the second flight, crossing the line in a time of 56.44 - finishing third overall in the event. The freshman started off strong, running in second but turned it on in turn three to push the limits of the rest of the field before pulling away. She was joined in the event by three other freshman - Veronica Bryant (59.34), Tamara Curtis (1:00.98) and Simone Pugh (1:01.50).
In the 400-meter dash, Stanley Arukwe used the same approach Alexander did previously as he used lane four to his advantage. After the staggered start, the junior college transfer took the lead down the backstretch and never relinquished it as he crossed the line in a time of 49.08 seconds to win his flight. The junior joined the list of student-athletes who set a new personal best on the surface of Mike Long Track.
Teammates Chris Upshaw (50.58 seconds) and Greg Acree (52.17 seconds) ran in the same hear with Arukwe, while Randall Askew crossed the line in a time of 52.83 seconds in the next heat. During the event, Acree was able to set a new personal best in the competition.
Meanwhile, in the women's long jump competition, Ariel Cavazos finished eighth overall with a jump of 5.44 meters (17-10.25), while teammate Simone Pugh finished 19th overall with a distance of 5.06 meters (16-07.25).
While the long jump was finishing up, a trio women were on the track in the 800-meters in two separate heats. Senior Kapri Hockaday made her debut in the meet with a time of 2:21.36, while freshman Chalyce Stancil set a new personal best with a time of 2:23.08 in the second heat. Meanwhile, in the third flight Kelly Harrington made her debut in the meet with a time of 2:23.98 in the third flight to finish 22nd overall - joining the list of athletes with new personal bests recorded this weekend.
In the 800-meters on the men's side, Andre McElroy made a push in the second flight of the race. On the backstretch, the sophomore pushed all the way from eighth and passed over half of the field but finished just behind the leader for a second place finish in the flight. The sophomore recorded a time of 1:54.65 to finish fourth overall - setting a new personal best, while teammate Adam Vise finished 17th overall with a time of 2:02.57.
Meanwhile, in the field, the men's and women's javelin took place during the 800-meter run. On the men's side Matt Braswell finished third overall with a big throw of 62.45 meters (204-11) jumping to second all time in school history. Meanwhile, Heath Fincher finished eighth overall with a throw of 52.83 meters (173-04) - setting a new personal best. The mark by Braswell also met the Junior National Standard - becoming the sixth student-athlete to join the field.
In other field events on Friday afternoon, freshman Lizzie Clough finished 11th overall in the javelin with a throw of 35.23 meters (115-07), while a pair of Trojans competed in the high jump reaching personal bests. Freshman Larry Henry finished tied for eighth with a clearance of 2.00 meters (6-06.75), while sophomore Terrell Irons finished 11th with a clearance of 1.90 meters (6-02.75).
As the day started creeping into night, the new Trojans hitting the track kept pace with the ones who competed previously in the day by setting new personal bests.
In the men's long jump, senior Lamontrey Stamper set a new personal best with a jump of 7.56 meters (24-09.75), besting his previous mark of 7.50 meters in the jump and finished fourth overall. Sophomore Terrell Irons finished six spots back in 10th with a jump of 6.70 meters (21-11.75).
Tiphanie Baker won her second gold of the competition as she captured first place in the discus competition with a throw of 49.46 meters (162-03). Freshman Ashley Evans set a new personal best in the competition with a throw of 39.39 meters (129-03), while Forsythe recorded a distance of 33.23 meters (109-02).
The last two competitions of the night were the 5000-meters and the 10,000-meters, featuring six Trojan student-athletes.
In the 5000-meters, Sylvia Chirchir bettered her previous personal best by 15 seconds as she crossed the line with a time of 18:00.65 - finishing eighth overall. Teammate Agnes Kapsioyo finished 15th overall with a time of 18:55.35. On the men's side, senior Jeremy Moujoodi finished ninth with a time of 15:12.07, while freshman Enock Kirui finished 10th overall with a time of 15:16.23 in his first 5000-meter race.
Meanwhile in the 10,000-meter race, the twins finished fourth and fifth overall. Morgan Paulson crossed the line fourth with a time of 40:06.89, while sister Allison Paulson finished with a time of 40:07.09.
After a long and exhausting day, the Troy University track and field program will be back in action Saturday morning beginning at 9 am and running until 5:45 pm at the Mike Long Track on the campus of Florida State University, wrapping up the FSU Relays.
