EMORY, Va. – The Anderson University Women's Track and Field program competed at the South Atlantic Conference Outdoor Championships on Wednesday, April 29 and Thursday, April 30, bringing home two champions and four podium finishes to finish 7th in the field.
"Proud of this team and how we ended the season. We got a lot of young talent that performed really well and brought home medals." said head coach
Caleb Stephenson.
The Championships began early Wednesday morning with the women's heptathlon, including senior
Georgia Piper (Dacula, Ga.) and junior
Ally Macurda (Charlotte, N.C.). Macurda posted personal bests in the javelin with a distance of 28.60m and the 100m hurdles, crossing the finish line with a time of 16.58.
Wednesday saw a personal best in the 100m hurdles by
Abby Kwasny (Winston Salem, N.C.) to qualify for finals with a time of 14.76. She finished 6th overall in the event with a time of 14.99.
Colette Dismukes (York, S.C.) also notched a personal best in the 400m prelims, crossing the line in 59.27. In the field,
Grace Zelenka (Jacksonville, Fla.) tossed a personal best in the hammer throw (36.49m) and shotput (9.75m).
On Thursday, six Trojans were honored on the podium for their performances at the Championships. Junior
Kennedy Roush (Greer, S.C.) won the women's 5k after posting a time of 17:00.47. Also earning gold on the podium was sophomore
Avery Marshall (York, S.C.) after clearing the 3.50m bar to win the women's pole vault. Just behind Marshall was
Rylie Jenkins (Loranger, La.) who cleared the 3.40m bar for a third-place finish, earning bronze on the podium. Freshman
Claire Gilliam (Simpsonville, S.C.) rounded out Anderson's podium appearances with a 2nd-place finish in the women's high jump, earning silver after clearing the 1.61m bar.
Two Trojans tallied points for the Trojans including Beth Ludwick (Roebuck, S.C.) with a 39:21.30 10k time to finish 8th and
Jorja Fox (Easley, S.C.) with a 6th-place finish in the women's pole vault after clearing the 3.25m bar.
"Weather conditions were definitely not ideal but couldn't be prouder of the way the kids fought through and made things happen." added Stephenson. "Super excited for next year and the talent we are bringing in."
While the 2026 season comes to a close for the Black and Gold, a few Trojans will travel to the Lee University Last Chance Meet on Saturday, May 9, chasing after national qualifying times.
