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Austin Peay State University Track and Field ready for 2018 OVC Outdoor Track and Field Championships

Austin Peay Sports Information

APSU Women's Track and FieldClarksville, TN – At long last, Austin Peay State University track and field gets the chance to put it all together against the Ohio Valley Conference’s finest competition as the APSU Govs travel to Cookeville Tennessee for the 2018 OVC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by Tennessee Tech at Tucker Stadium.

Austin Peay seeks its fifth consecutive top-five finish in OVC Outdoor competition. Last season, APSU’s 87.33 points placed them fifth, less than four points behind third-place Tennessee Tech.

Austin Peay Track and Field travels to Cookeville Tennessee for the 2018 OVC Outdoor Championships. (APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay Track and Field travels to Cookeville Tennessee for the 2018 OVC Outdoor Championships. (APSU Sports Information)

Day One – Thursday

Thursday is mostly about the multi-events, with freshman Denia Hill-Tate set to make her first appearance in the women’s heptathlon; she’ll start out in the 100m dash, one of her stronger events, as she bids to get Austin Peay off to a hot start.

Only the hammer throw and the 10,000m run will compete for finals on Thursday; seniors ReBecca Wheeler (hammer) and Sarah-Emily Woodward (10,000m) make their final appearances in an Austin Peay uniform, while junior Emmaculate Kiplagat has quietly moved into the conference’s top-eight in the event as she looks to become the first Gov to medal in the 10,000m event.

Day Two – Friday

Friday dawns with the final three events of the heptathlon and some of Austin Peay’s strongest field events. The premier event for Austin Peay fans is no doubt the women’s pole vault, slated for a 3:00pm start at Tucker Stadium. The Govs may never have a better chance for a sweep of the podium—not only has junior Savannah Amato maintained her reign over the rest of the league, both Morgan Bradley and Dascha Hix are six inches ahead of their next closest OVC competition in the most recent best lists.

The track sprint and hurdle preliminaries begin Friday, with the 100m hurdles set for a 3:20pm kickoff to the women’s portion of the event. Among those expected to vie for podium spots for the Governors are sophomores Tymeitha Tolbert (100m dash, 200m dash) and Amelia Thiesing (400m dash), freshmen Sabrina Richman (400m dash) and Lennex Walker (100m hurdles) and senior Allysha Scott (400m dash) in her final appearance as a Gov.

Tolbert in particular will be eying an outstanding run in the 100m dash; the Louisville native currently ranks 50th in the NCAA East region and if she were to break her school record once again this week she could find herself joining Amato and perhaps Bradley, Hix and even Maya Perry-Grimes later this month at the NCAA East Preliminary in Tampa, Florida.

Friday closes with the 3000m steeplechase, an event in which Austin Peay’s Caroline Kiplagat must be considered a dark horse. In her last outing, the Kenyan lopped more than 15 seconds off her previous career-best; a similar drop on Friday would put her right around the league’s top-five.

Day Three – Saturday

Hopefully, medals and points will abound for Austin Peay on the final day of competition. Not only will the day showcase the finals in all sprint events, the day opens in the field with the women’s triple jump, where Perry-Grimes’ 12.42m in the season opener at Coastal Carolina still ranks third in the event. Although she’s yet to reach such heights again, the 2017 OVC Indoor Freshman of the Year is primed for a breakout weekend.

In addition to the expected success in individual track events, Austin Peay will open the day with the 4x100m relay—in which the Govs are currently ranked third—and close it with the 4x400m event, an event in which Austin Peay’s 3:45.39 two weeks ago at Memphis vaulted the Govs into second in the league.

Austin Peay harbors hopes for a repeat of 2016, where the Govs closed the OVC Championships with 4x400m gold. Tolbert, Perry-Grimes, Scott and Walker will run the 4x100m, while Richman, Thiesing, Scott and freshman Allana Johnson will represent the Govs in the 4x400m.

A recap will be posted at LetsGoPeay.com following each day’s conclusion, while updates will be available on Twitter (@AustinPeayXCTF). LetsGoPeay.com will have on-the-ground coverage both Friday and Saturday.

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