33.3 F
Clarksville
Monday, March 18, 2024
HomeSportsAPSU Lady Govs Track and Field has Solid opening day at OVC...

APSU Lady Govs Track and Field has Solid opening day at OVC Championships

Austin Peay Sports Information

Austin Peay State University Lady Govs - APSUCharleston, IL – Austin Peay State University women’s track and field team finds itself with some ground to make up following a Day One showing at the 2015 Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships that finds the Lady Govs in sixth place.

Austin Peay Track and Field. (APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay Track and Field. (APSU Sports Information)

Through six complete events, Austin Peay’s 18 points sits behind host Eastern Illinois (45 points), Eastern Kentucky (40), Southeast Missouri (38.5), Tennessee State (31) and Murray State (28). Belmont (17 points) and SIU Edwardsville (16.5) round out the scoring from the first day of competition.

Austin Peay was sixth after the first day of competition at last season’s OVC Indoor Championships before rallying for a third-place team showing.

“We had some good efforts today and got some people in the finals,” said head coach Doug Molnar. “We’re in an okay position heading into Saturday. I thought our DMR team did a good job, Lamontra (Robinson) was a big plus and Jessica (Gray) controlled her race from the get-go.”

Sophomore Chancis Jones was Austin Peay’s lone medalist on Friday. The Memphis native took bronze in the long jump thanks to a season-best 5.72m leap that also garnered six points toward the team score. She was not alone in adding points to the team tally, with sophomore Kaylnn Pitts (sixth, 5.60m) and Amia Butler (seventh, 5.60m) adding three and two points, respectively.

Butler was busy on Friday, also earning a sixth-place finish in the pentathlon – and with it, three more points for Austin Peay – thanks to 3,363 points in the event. Butler was at her best in the pentathlon long jump (5.68m leap for 753 points) and the 60m hurdles (8.84 seconds for 944 points).

Butler will be back at it tomorrow in the 60m hurdles after qualifying for the finals in the event with an 8.73 run; she’ll be joined by sophomore Myiah Johnson, who equaled that mark on her way to the finals.

Those two will be part of a group of seven runners that made the finals in various events. They’ll be led by junior Breigh Jones, who led the way in the 400m dash with a 56.43 and qualified second in the 200m thanks to a 25.01 second mark. Jones will be joined in the 200m finals by Robinson, who earned her first OVC Championship finalist honor thanks to a personal-best 25.71 mark that placed her eighth overall in the preliminaries.

Gray also enters Saturday with a significant chance at a medal. Her 2:15.75 mark qualified her second in the 800m finals, just over a second behind Eastern Illinois’ Kristen Paris for the top spot. Gray led Austin Peay’s distance medley relay squad on Friday, joining junior Michaela McGhee, sophomore Molly Jordan and sophomore Unjula Lester with a fifth-place, season-best 12:28.53 mark, which netted four points toward the team tally.

Senior Erika Adams carries some momentum in the 60m dash finals. The Weston, FL, native broke the school record in the event with a 7.62 run to qualify seventh; she earned silver in the 55m dash at last season’s OVC Indoors.

“Our biggest thing all year was getting healthy and we’re just not quite there,” Molnar said. “To have kids miss three, four weeks and then try to come back for conference makes it very difficult.

“We didn’t get as many qualified (for finals) as we hoped, but that’s the nature of the beast. We’ll get after it tomorrow and see what happens.”

Action continues Saturday at Lantz Fieldhouse.

RELATED ARTICLES

Latest Articles