Story by Zach Scott, Staff Writer
The Murray State track and field team traveled to Clarksville, Tennessee over the weekend to participate in the Austin Peay Invitational.
The Racers managed to set several personal records and record a plethora of top finishes in Clarksville. The event was originally planned to be a two-day event but was condensed to Friday only because of inclement weather that occurred Saturday.
Head coach Adam Kiesler was pleased but not entirely surprised by the amount of season records that the girls set last weekend.
“It’s that time of year where we hope to see that,” Kiesler said.
Junior sprinter Tamdra Lawrence led the way for the Racers in the 100-meter dash, finishing second in the event with a time of 12.52 seconds. Her finish marked a new season-best for Lawrence.
Sophomore sprinter D’Myia Thornton set two season highs in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes as well. Thornton ran the 100-meter in 12.57 seconds and the 200-meter in 25.81 seconds.
In the 800-meter, sophomore distance runner Amanda Parker posted a time of 2:30.67, which was a also a new season high for her.
The Racers had two top-ten finishes in the 5000-meter run. Senior distance runner Rebekah Priddy finished fifth with a time of 18:20.04 and junior distance runner Ida Mutai placed sixth with a time of 18:44.19.
Murray State also made its mark in the field events. Junior high jumper Aubrey Main came in third in the high jump with a mark of 1.63 meters. Junior pole vaulter Emily Heil set a new season best in the pole vault with a mark of 3.41 meters.
In the shot put, the Racers posted three top-ten finishes. Sophomore thrower Destiny Carey set a new personal record at Murray State with a mark of 13.27 meters, putting her third in the event. Racer sophomore thrower Jewel Wagner and junior thrower Christina Meinhardt finished sixth and seventh respectively, with marks of 12.56 and 11.70 meters.
Murray State posted two more top-ten finishes in the discus throw with Meinhardt and Carey placing fifth and sixth in the event with marks of 34.73 and 34.26 meters.
Kiesler was content with the way that his team performed, even after learning that the meet was going to be condensed to one day. He believes that his team is heading in the right direction as they get ready for the final stretch of the season and for the first round of the NCAA qualifiers.
The Racers are competing next on Friday, April 20, and Saturday, April 21, at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta, Georgia.