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Women’s Sprinters Highlight Day One of Sun Belt Indoor Championships
2/23/2016 11:08:00 AM | Track & Field
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Led by outstanding performances from the women's sprints crew and several personal- and season's-best marks across event groups, the Trojans concluded day one of the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championship meet on Monday with high hopes for Tuesday's competition. Action at the Birmingham CrossPlex has already resumed with the women's pentathlon's 60-meter hurdles, featuring freshman Gemma Finch and junior Riley Schwietz.
"Our current team score doesn't reflect the amount of tremendous results we saw today on day one," director Marc Davis said. "With the exception of a few final rounds, a lot of the events that were scheduled today were preliminaries, so we're pleased that people qualified for finals and put themselves in position to score in multiple events tomorrow. Our student-athletes showed up ready to fight for every point, and that mentality is going to carry over into the next round."
Finch snagged four points for Troy in a three-way tie for fourth place in the high jump with a 1.66-meter (5'05.25") effort, which ties her own personal-best mark in the event. In the weight throw, sophomore Jaevyn Wortham scored three points and took sixth place by recording her farthest toss ever, 17.49 meters (57'04.75").
The women's sprint squad also showed up in a big way by punching four entries to finals tomorrow in the 400- and 200-meter dashes. Sophomore Niata Alexander qualified for finals in both races and turned in the third-fastest time of the day in the 400-meter dash in 56.46 seconds in heat five. Less than a second separates Alexander from Georgia State's Sydney Davis (56.34 seconds) and Arkansas State's Keturah Smith (55.30 seconds) heading into finals tomorrow. Alexander, who ran 400 meters in 55.23 seconds at last year's Sun Belt indoor championship, will look to repeat that performance and challenge Smith for the win. In her fastest indoor race ever, junior Dallas Worthy stormed through 400 meters in 56.69 seconds to also qualify for finals as the seventh-fastest runner of the day. The women will race the 400-meter finals at 1 p.m. CT.
In the 200-meter dash, Alexander once again led Troy by blazing her way to a season's-best mark of 24.62 seconds, which ranks fifth among her fellow qualifiers. Sophomore Sydney Wright ran a near-identical season's-best race in 24.64 seconds, and will line up with Alexander tomorrow in the final round at 2:55 p.m. CT.
Wright also ran to a personal-best time of 7.61 seconds in heat one of the 60-meter dash, but was edged out of finals by two-hundredths of a second after junior Alexis Baldwin of UT Arlington ran 7.59 seconds in heat four. Other noteworthy performances in the 60-meter dash included personal-best marks set by freshman Gabrielle Henderson (7.74 seconds) and senior Cameia Alexander (7.81 seconds).
The Trojans will also look forward to seeing freshman Indiya Summerville in the shot put at 3 p.m. CT, where she currently holds the eighth-best throw in the conference at 14.33 meters (47'0.25").
In the pole vault, sophomore Carissa Madson will head into competition tied for ninth with four other Sun Belt competitors at her personal-best height of 3.5 meters (11'5.75"), which she set this year.
At the end of the meet, Alexander, Worthy, Finch and sophomore Naomi Sheppard will team up for Troy's 4x400-meter relay, which currently has the fifth-fastest time in the conference (3:54.90).
Fans can keep up with the action by following Troy track and field and cross country on Instagram @TroyTrojansTFXC.
For more information on Troy Athletics, fans can find the Trojans on Twitter and Instagram @TroyAthletics and Facebook by searching Troy Athletics.
"Our current team score doesn't reflect the amount of tremendous results we saw today on day one," director Marc Davis said. "With the exception of a few final rounds, a lot of the events that were scheduled today were preliminaries, so we're pleased that people qualified for finals and put themselves in position to score in multiple events tomorrow. Our student-athletes showed up ready to fight for every point, and that mentality is going to carry over into the next round."
Finch snagged four points for Troy in a three-way tie for fourth place in the high jump with a 1.66-meter (5'05.25") effort, which ties her own personal-best mark in the event. In the weight throw, sophomore Jaevyn Wortham scored three points and took sixth place by recording her farthest toss ever, 17.49 meters (57'04.75").
The women's sprint squad also showed up in a big way by punching four entries to finals tomorrow in the 400- and 200-meter dashes. Sophomore Niata Alexander qualified for finals in both races and turned in the third-fastest time of the day in the 400-meter dash in 56.46 seconds in heat five. Less than a second separates Alexander from Georgia State's Sydney Davis (56.34 seconds) and Arkansas State's Keturah Smith (55.30 seconds) heading into finals tomorrow. Alexander, who ran 400 meters in 55.23 seconds at last year's Sun Belt indoor championship, will look to repeat that performance and challenge Smith for the win. In her fastest indoor race ever, junior Dallas Worthy stormed through 400 meters in 56.69 seconds to also qualify for finals as the seventh-fastest runner of the day. The women will race the 400-meter finals at 1 p.m. CT.
In the 200-meter dash, Alexander once again led Troy by blazing her way to a season's-best mark of 24.62 seconds, which ranks fifth among her fellow qualifiers. Sophomore Sydney Wright ran a near-identical season's-best race in 24.64 seconds, and will line up with Alexander tomorrow in the final round at 2:55 p.m. CT.
Wright also ran to a personal-best time of 7.61 seconds in heat one of the 60-meter dash, but was edged out of finals by two-hundredths of a second after junior Alexis Baldwin of UT Arlington ran 7.59 seconds in heat four. Other noteworthy performances in the 60-meter dash included personal-best marks set by freshman Gabrielle Henderson (7.74 seconds) and senior Cameia Alexander (7.81 seconds).
The Trojans will also look forward to seeing freshman Indiya Summerville in the shot put at 3 p.m. CT, where she currently holds the eighth-best throw in the conference at 14.33 meters (47'0.25").
In the pole vault, sophomore Carissa Madson will head into competition tied for ninth with four other Sun Belt competitors at her personal-best height of 3.5 meters (11'5.75"), which she set this year.
At the end of the meet, Alexander, Worthy, Finch and sophomore Naomi Sheppard will team up for Troy's 4x400-meter relay, which currently has the fifth-fastest time in the conference (3:54.90).
Fans can keep up with the action by following Troy track and field and cross country on Instagram @TroyTrojansTFXC.
For more information on Troy Athletics, fans can find the Trojans on Twitter and Instagram @TroyAthletics and Facebook by searching Troy Athletics.
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