Story by Blake Sandlin, Staff writer
Murray State’s track and field traveled to Marshall University over the weekend to compete in the two-day Marshall Thundering Herd Invitational.
The invitational, which was held at the Chris Cline Complex in Huntington, West Virginia, had the Racers matched up with competition such as Georgia State, the University of Cincinnati, and Lehigh University in their fourth meet of the indoor season.
The Racers’ notable performances from the sprinters included sophomore Jabreuna Brimlet’s third place finish out of 44 runners in the preliminary round of the 60-meter hurdles. She qualified for the finals, finishing in 8.76 seconds. Brimlett was unable to carry her momentum into the final heat, however, and she finished last out of eight runners with a 9.19 sprint.
In the field events, freshman Hope Tewes finished in 12th out of 25 athletes in women’s high jump, finishing with a mark of 1.60 meters. In the women’s shot put finals, sophomore Christina Meinhardt recorded a mark of 11.97 meters.
Moving to distance, the Racer’s recorded some of their fastest finishes, with junior Meagan Smith in the 5000-meter run finals finishing with a team high seventh place out of 43 runners, recording a time of 17:52.89. Her teammate, junior Rebekah Priddy, finished close behind, claiming an eighth place finish with a time of 17:58.28. Notably, sophomore Ida Mutai finished 21st with a 18:34.01.
In the one mile run, Priddy finished in 23rd out of 51 runners with a time of 5:12.29 in the finals after recording an eighth place finish in the preliminary heat. In the 800 meter run, freshman Hilary McAdam finished second in her preliminary round, running a 2:18.88. McAdam secured a 14th place finish out of 49 runners, finishing in 2:18.88.
The Racers’ team of sophomore Aubrey Main, freshman Yazmine Home, freshman D’Myia Thornton, and McAdam finished in 17th place out of 27 teams in the 4×400 meter relay, finishing in 4:06.27.
Head Coach of women’s track and field, Jenny Swieton was pleased with her team’s improvement.
“I am very happy with our continued progress,” Swieton said. “We had a lot of personal records and collegiate bests set this weekend.”
Murray State will be back in action next week when the team hits the track at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 3, for the Don DeNoon Invitational hosted by Southern Illinois.