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Austin Peay State University Track and Field has solid meet at Gene Edmonds Invitational

APSU Women's Track and FieldWest Lafayette, IN – Austin Peay State University (APSU) track and field acquitted itself nicely against some top competition at the Gene Edmonds Invitational, wrapping up a solid week of competition at the Purdue-hosted event.

Austin Peay State University Women's Track and Field finish the weekend big at Gene Edmonds Invitational. (APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay State University Women’s Track and Field finish the weekend big at Gene Edmonds Invitational. (APSU Sports Information)

Freshman Kenisha Phillips expanded her range yet again this week.

After earning Ohio Valley Conference Runner of the Week honors for her work in the 60m and 200m dashes, this week she tried out the 400m and dominated there as well, posting a flat 57.00 mark to take the win by nearly a half-second.

That mark would trail only teammate Sabrina Richman among league runners based on marks entering the weekend.

Speaking of Richman, she was not idle. The Atlanta native posted a 25.19 in the 200m dash, taking third overall out of lane four, and spent Friday night winning the non-standard 600m run at 1:34.25. If other results hold, it would give Austin Peay State University four of the league’s top-five 200m dash runners—Richman, Phillips, Tymeitha Tolbert and Kyra Wilder—with Tolbert making the finals in the 60m this weekend (seventh, 7.77) and Wilder joining Phillips in the top-eight in the 400m (eighth, 58.27).

Lennex Walker, the OVC’s leading hurdler, is quickly becoming a force in the 60m event. In a race featuring two qualifiers from last season’s NCAA Outdoor Preliminary in the 100m hurdles, Walker posted an 8.82 mark to take fifth overall.

Walker also helped out in the triple jump, leaping 10.87m to take eighth and supplement the efforts of reigning OVC Field Athlete of the Week Maya Perry-Grimes, who took sixth in the event with an 11.06m mark.

As usual, Austin Peay State University displayed the potential to be a real handful for the rest of the OVC in the pole vault. Even with Savannah Amato and Dascha Hix unavailable until the outdoor season, freshman Karlijn Schouten (fifth, 3.75m) and junior Morgan Bradley (sixth, 3.60m) proved more than up to the task against a powerhouse Louisville program headlined by a top-10 regional performer last year in Gabriela Leon.

Over in the throw pit, sophomore Kori McDaniel continued a strong start to the season with a 12.80m toss in the shot put, placing eighth.

“I though Kori had a really solid performance,” said Austin Peay State University head coach Valerie Brown. “We were happy to have our pole vaulters back in action for the first time since December. And I thought our sprint group was competitive throughout the meet.”

The APSU Govs wrapped the weekend with a runner-up finish in the 4x400m relay with a 3:53.21 mark, featuring Wilder, Richman, Phillips and Allana Johnson doing the honors.

“This was a short recovery week,” Brown said. “Competing in two events in seven days is tough, especially coming off Christmas break. We are excited for our ladies to get some rest and get back to our normal practice week.”

The Austin Peay State University Govs are back in action next weekend at the Samford Invitational in Birmingham, Alabama—site of the 2020 OVC Indoor Championships.

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