ANDERSON, S.C. -- Anderson's track and field teams competed at two different meets this weekend—Raleigh Relays hosted by NC State and Gotta Run Invitational hosted by Southern Wesleyan—recording three national qualifying provisional times, 22 personal records and 32 Top-5 finishes.
Raleigh Relays
In Raleigh, four Trojans competed on a highly competitive stage and brought home three national-qualifying times. In the men's 5k, senior Spain Vaughan (Greer, S.C.) ran a PR of 14:10 to earn himself a provo time. In the women's 10k, sophomore Kennedy Roush (Greenville, S.C.) outdid her personal best time by nearly 30 seconds, finishing in 36:00 for a provo time. And senior Lacey Boozer (Simpsonville, S.C.) earned a provo time in the women's 400m, running a 55.52 to finish 23rd of 113 athletes as the fastest D2 athlete in the field. Junior Joey Tindale (Rock Hill, S.C.) ran a time of 3:50 in the men's 1500m, missing the provo time by two seconds.
Gotta Run
The rest of the Trojans competed just down the road at SWU, where the team collectively posted impressive showings, coloring the leaderboard in many events Black and Gold.
Day One saw the Trojans take 2nd and 4th in the men's long jump, with Jordan Gross (Chester, Va.) and CJ Young (Clinton, S.C.) both jumping PR marks of 6.82m and 6.68m respectively.
In pole vault, Anderson women finished 1st-4th on the board, led by freshman Avery Marshall (York, S.C.) who shattered the standing school record by clearing the 3.66m bar. Behind Marshall, Kirsten Leonard (Hoover, Ala.) finished 2nd with a 3.35m mark, while Jorja Fox (Easley, S.C.) and Rylie Jenkins (Loranger, La.) followed with a 3.20m jump. On the men's side, the Trojans finished 2nd, 3rd and 5th on the afternoon, led by Tyler Farris (Dacula, Ga.) who tied his outdoor PR with a 4.35m jump. He was followed by Will O'Cain (Columbia, S.C.) at 4.35m and Lambdin Hardy (Commerce, Ga.) at 4.20m.
On the track, Sean McAdams (Greenville, S.C.) handedly won the men's 3000m steeplechase with a PR race of 9:30, while David Williams (Irmo, S.C.) and Ty Nelson (Moore, S.C.) took 1st and 3rd in the men's 5000m respectively. In the women's 5000m race, Hannah Reedy (Seabrook, S.C.) and Hannah Williams (Columbia, S.C.) finished 3rd and 4th in the field.
Day Two kicked off with AU claiming 1st-4th in the women's 1500m, led by freshman Natalie States (Greensboro, N.C.) who ran a personal best 4:52 race. Closely behind, Mclayne Wyatt (Greenville, S.C.) also ran a PR of 4:53 to finish second, with Elizabeth Ludwick (Roebuck, S.C.) and Molly Hanlon (Cumming, Ga.) finishing 3rd and 4th. On the men's side, Eddie Wedgewood (Easley, S.C.) and William Cronin (Lexington, S.C.) raced their collegiate debut 1500m, finishing 2nd and 4th with times of 4:03 and 4:07.
In the hurdle events, the Trojans claimed 2nd and 3rd in the women's 100m, with Mackenzie Moretina (Kansas City, Mo.) running 14.91s, followed by Jessa Kindel (Easley, S.C.) at 15.21. Abby Kwasny (Winston-Salem, N.C.) won the women's 400m event with a time of 1:09, while Johnathan McCoy (Easley, S.C.) finished 5th in the men's 400m with a PR time of 58.74.
Emma Whitaker (Inman, S.C.) exploded for a personal best 400m race, finishing 2nd in the field at 59.39. Adam Trusty (Greer, S.C.) and Noah Stump (Easley, S.C.) took 3rd and 4th in the 800m, running 1:57.4 and 1:57.5.
In the field, Georgia Piper (Dacula, Ga.) finished 5th in women's high jump with a 1.50m jump, while Gross finished 4th in the men's event, clearing the 1.90m bar.
Chase Brightharp (Trenton, S.C.) shattered personal records in back-to-back events, finishing 4th in the men's discus competition with a 43.51m throw and 4th in the men's shot put event with a 13.01m mark.
The Trojans look to bring this weekend's momentum into next week for their only home event of the year—the Electric City Invite—hosted at the AU track and field on Friday and Saturday (April 4-5).
