JACKSONVILLE, Ala. -- Senior Ashley Mayhew
shattered the school record in the hammer throw and three
additional personal best marks were established Saturday as the
Tennessee Tech women's track team claimed fifth place among 14
schools at the Gem of the Hills Invitational.
Mayhew won the hammer throw and earned 10 points in the team
standings with a school-record throw of 157 feet, 3 inches. It was
14 feet better than the previous school mark of 140 feet, which
Mayhew set a year ago at the same meet at Jacksonville State. Tech
earned another point in the hammer when Madison Borden
placed eighth with a toss of 112 feet, 6 inches.
Mayhew accounted for 15 of Tech's final 40 points, adding a fourth
place finish in the shot put with a toss of 39 feet, 4 inches.
Senior Katherine Lynn
put eight points onto Tech's total, finishing second in the high
jump with an effort that cleared 5 feet, 5 inches.
Traci Jones
claimed a couple of points when she placed seventh in the
1,500-meter run in the time of 5:07.56. Tech grabed four more
points in another distance race, the longest of the day, with a
couple of strong runs by freshmen Peri Winborne and
Rebecca
Cline in the 5,000-meter event. Winborne placed sixth with a
time of 19:24.69 while Cline was eighth in 19:50.46. It was the
first time for each to compete at that distance during the outdoor
season.
Speedster Brittany Cotto
ran a personal best time of 1:07.37 in the 400-meter hurdles,
finishing sixth for two team points.
Freshman Kelli
Keck claimed Tech's other individual point, placing eighth in
the triple jump with a jump of 34 feet, 11.25 inches.
The other six points came in the two relay events, where Tech
claimed finished sixth in the 4x100 and seventh in the 4x400.
Tech's two other personal best marks, while not scoring points,
came in the 400-meter dash and the long jump. Dalis Connell ran
the 400m in 1:04.37 to beat her previoous best time, and in the
long jump Justine
Phillips topped her previous best with a jump of 15 feet, 4
inches.
Host Jacksonville State won the team title with 175 points,
followed in the Top 5 by Georgia State (173.5), Albany State
(106.5), Bevill State (44.5) and Tech (40).
Tech also earned six points in the men's part of the meet as
Matthew Bishop, one of two Golden Eagle distance runners
participating, finished third in the men's 5,000-meter run in
16:06.18.
The Golden Eagle women's team will be in Nashville next Saturday
(April 9) for Tennessee State's Boston-Moon Invitational.