APSU Sports Information
Bloomington, IN – Austin Peay State University women’s track and field team found the going tough on the first day of competition at the Gladstein Invitational, Friday, at Indiana’s Gladstein Fieldhouse.
The best performance posted Friday went to junior Kymmalett Ross. The sprinter guaranteed herself a spot in Saturday’s 60m dash final with a 7.74 qualifying mark, three-hundredths of a second from the top spot and third overall during qualifying.
Sophomore Kaylnn Pitts posted a fourth-place mark in the triple jump with an 11.85m leap, with freshman Keyondria Ross close behind at 11.48m, which tied for sixth.
“Keyondria is doing a really nice job,” Molnar said. “Every jump today was further than her high school personal-best. She’s getting consistent and she’s going to start challenging our upperclassmen.”
Sophomore Myiah Johnson narrowly missed a qualifying mark for Saturday’s 60m hurdle final; the Memphis, TN native hit 9.04 seconds in her season’s second 60m hurdle attempt, but finished a tenth-of-a-second out of the running for a spot in the finals.
Despite posting second-place showings in both the 60m hurdles (8.92) and the long jump (5.53m), sophomore Amia Butler was unable to clear the bar in the high jump; with no points in the event, the Nashville, TN native tumbled to an 11th-place finish in her first pentathlon of the season.
“She just got a little too close to the bar,” Molnar said. “Anytime you take a zero, it’s going to hurt you, so that was a little disappointing. She was set pretty good in the hurdles and had a personal-best in the shot, so clear up the high jump and she’s right in the mix. But I’d rather have that happen here so we can clear it up early for the conference meet.”
The two-day event concludes Saturday, with action scheduled to begin at 11:00am.
“We’ll get after it tomorrow,” Molnar said. “We’ve got some good events coming up. We’ll see some good competition in the relays and we’re excited to see what Breigh (Jones) can do in the 600m event.”
