CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Trojan track and field teams opened their outdoor campaign at the 49er Classic in Charlotte this weekend. Along with multiple PR's earned at the meet, Anderson's performance was highlighted by the women's 4x800m relay team breaking the standing school record and three AU athletes boasting Top-5 finishes in their respective events.
"I am very satisfied with how the athletes opened up the season," said Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Kevin Eagle. "With having 3 weeks off from competition and throwing in Spring Break, you never know how the athletes will respond to competition. This weekend showed that we are ready for anything. This was a great start to the season and should be a sign of good things to come."
The relay team, comprised of senior Lacey Boozer (Simpsonville, S.C.), junior Emma Whitaker (Inman, S.C.) and freshmen Molly Hanlon (Cumming, Ga.) and Natalie States (Greensboro, N.C.), finished fourth in the 4x800m race with a school record-breaking time of 9:45.12. They bested the standing program record by 0.8 seconds.
Joey Tindale (Rock Hill, S.C.) opened his outdoor season with a PR time of 1:52 in the 800m, a mark good for first place among 54 competitors in the meet.
On the women's side, Whitaker ran a 2:16 800m race to finish fourth of 60 athletes, while Boozer continued her strong senior campaign, running a 56.24 400m race to place second of 45 athletes.
In field events, personal records were broken in the women's pole vault by Rylie Jenkins (Loranger, La.) at 3.56m and Jorja Fox (Easley, S.C.) at 3.26m, while Sarah Wimpee (Summerville, S.C.) threw a PR 11.47m mark in the women's shot put and David Brown (Menomonie, Wis.) cleared the 1.71m bar in the men's high jump.
On the track, Mclayne Wyatt (Greenville, S.C.) ran a personal best 18:38 5k, Hannah Reedy (Seabrook, S.C.) boasted a 5:20 1500m race and Abby Kwasny (Winston-Salem, N.C.) recorded a best 1:08 400m hurdles race.
On the men's side, Cullen Ussery (Kershaw, S.C.) ran a PR 200m at 22.68, David Williams (Irmo, S.C.) raced a 4:09 1500m and Sean McAdams (Greenville, S.C.) posted a 14:48 time in the 5k.
The Trojans continue the season next week, competing at the Raleigh Relays hosted by NC State and the Gotta Run Invitational hosted by Southern Wesleyan.
