Austin Peay Lady Govs Track and Field finishes second at Saluki Invite

APSU Sports: Austin Peay Women’s Track and Field

Carbondale, IL – Austin Peay State University women’s track and field team finished second at the Saluki Invitational, hosted Friday and Saturday, at Southern Illinois.

“This was our best meet this season without question,” head coach Doug Molnar said. “We’ve talked about trying to get inside the top 15 and the top 10 – today, we consistently had ourselves near the top of every event. From the relays to the pole vault, we were well-rounded.”

Host Southern Illinois won the meet with a 195.50 team score, followed by the Lady Govs at 83.50. Austin Peay topped three other Ohio Valley Conference schools as Southeast Missouri finished third at 52.50, Murray State was fifth at 47 and Tennessee Tech was 10th with 3 points.

 

The Lady Govs  recorded 19 top-10 finishes and also managed to set season-best times in seven different events.

It was the relay teams again setting the standard in the 4×400-meter relay, winning the race with a season-best 3:54.85 time. Candace Johnson ran the first leg, followed by Taelor Slaughter and Cenitra Hudson, with Chantelle Grey running the anchor.

The four relay runners each had impressive days individually, as well. Grey finished second in the 400-meter dash, running APSU’s season-best time of 56.92, while Johnson finished sixth (59.65). Hudson finished second in the 200-meter dash (25.61) fifth in the triple jump (11.18m) and eighth in the 60-meter dash (7.96)

Slaughter set a personal best in the 800-meters (2:28.53) and posted an APSU season-best with a 1.55m high jump, to place fifth.  Erika Adams finished sixth in the 60-meter dash with an APSU season-best 7.90 time.

Nicole Bressner had a season-best 3.42m pole vault to finish second, while Molly Basch came in the seventh. Xiamar Richards had an APSU season-best 10:22.01 time in the 3000-meter run while Janelle Avery had a personal-best at 10:41.28.

“We’ve got try and keep this thing going now,” Molnar said. “This has been our best meet, but it’s not the conference championships yet. We’ve got to be able to do this again in a few weeks. The weather has been key for us because it’s been nice outside and allowed us to do some more things. I have to hope that keeps going too.”

Austin Peay returns to action in two weeks at Ohio State before the OVC Indoor Championships.