The Golden Eagles took down conference opponents Louisiana Tech and The University of Alabama at Birmingham and walked away with seven first- place finishes in their victory in the Jaguar Invitational. The men scored over 60 points, while the women racked up over 100 in the meet.
“Today was an important day of competing for us,” said Assistant Coach John Ellis. “We had several season-bests and we were able to identify the areas that still need work.”
The men’s short distance had an impressive showing starting with Cravorkian Carson and Alexander Richemond qualifying for the final heat in the 60m dash. Carson finished second running 6.71 and Richemond finished seventh running a 6.95. Richemond doubled and ran the 200m race finishing fourth in the final running 21.61. Lorenzen Burton won the 400m dash with a time of 49.23.
The women’s short distance had even greater success. Keiyana Gaskin and Kadaria Thompson both qualified for the final in 60m dash with Gaskin finishing second with a 7.50 and Thompson finished third running a 7.61. Both doubled in the 200m dash where Gaskin won with a time of 24.40 and Thompson finished fourth, running a 24.55m.
In the 60m hurdles for the women, Modesty Lorick finished fifth overall in the final running a 8.65. For the men, Caleb Parker fell off despite his seventh place finish in the final, where he ran a 8.17 to qualify, but ran a 9.22 in the final.
Parker made up for his performance in the high jump where he finished second overall, jumping 2.01m. For the women, Trista Barry finished fourth in the high jump with 1.69m and Jamari Drake tied for sixth with a 1.64m jump. Eric Washington’s 7.08m jump placed him second in the long jump. In the triple jump, Devonta Brassel finished third with a 14.88m jump.
The women struggled the most in the field but still managed to put up solid performances. In the women’s shot put, Brashe Wood finished fourth throwing 15.03m, Danisha Jones finished fifth throwing 15.02m and Autavia Chiles finished seventh throwing 14.42m. In the women’s weight throw, Nadia Maffo finished fifth throwing 18.03m, Jones finish sixth with a 17.35m throw and Wood finished ninth throwing a 16.76.
In the men’s weight throw, Donald Daley finished second with a 18.53m throw, but finished 12th in the shot put throwing a 14.05m. Robert Watson finished 13th in the shot put throwing a 13.61m.
The men’s distance had another rough outing, but showed some improvement. In the 800m run, Randall Dais ran for a time of 1:58.66, finishing 12th overall. David Little competed in the one- mile run finishing ninth overall running a 4:20.11.
The women’s distance team was the highlight for the Golden Eagles where they scored over 50 points.
In the 800m run, the Golden Eagles captured the top two finishes with Courtney Filleben winning with a time of 2:11.39 and Savannah McMillon finished second running 2:14.63. The Golden Eagles had the same result in the 3000m run. Dana Dillistone won with a time of 9:45.97 and Daphney Stanford finished second running 10:00.58. In the one-mile run, Regen McGee ran a 4:58.11 for the win and Monika Gebarzewska ran a 5:05.78 in a fourth place finish.
“Had a lot of great efforts today on the distance side,” said Assistant Coach Aaron Kindt. “Dana, Regen [and] Courtney all brought home wins and lifetime bests. Group is heading in the right direction going into championship season.”
The Golden Eagles will return to Birmingham on Feb. 10 for the Samford Invitational.
