By Nate Perry, TTU Sports Information
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Lisa Wickham's name is already in the Tennessee Tech track and field record book for the 60-meter dash, but on Saturday afternoon at the Vanderbilt Invitational she broke her own mark, running the 60 in 7.40 seconds.
"Lisa did an incredible job today," said head coach Wayne Angel. "She was obviously very well prepared, and she brought her best while running alongside some of the best in the country in the 60 meters. Extremely proud of what she was able to do."
Wickham started by winning her heat with a preliminary-round time of 7.46 seconds, which gave her the third of eight qualifying spots for the finals.
Despite that time, which was the third-fastest of her career, she still had enough in the tank for her 7.40. It becomes the new Tech standard in the 60 by just one-hundredth of a second (7.41).
It's one full tenth of a second faster than any other mark in the OVC, which is a large margin in such a short-distance race.
Nationally, her time sits at No. 25 on the NCAA Division I Indoor Qualifying List.
It was the fifth time Wickham has finished in the top six in the event.
Teauna Anderson competed with Wickham in the 60, and cut .07 seconds off her old best with a time of 7.92. It was the second week in a row with a new top mark for Anderson, who ran that previous best in 7.99 last week at Kentucky.
Defending OVC-Championship runner-up D'Airrien Jackson took ninth place in the 400 meters with a time of 56.78 seconds. It was the 10th career top-10 finish in the 400 for Jackson at an indoor meet.
Khemani Roberts came in 19th in the 400, as she clocked the second-best indoor time of her career, 57.88 seconds.
Anderson ran another personal best on Saturday in the 400, coming across in 1:02:05.
Jordan Toney ran her first-ever collegiate attempt in the event in 1:03.11.
"I was happy with what we did on the track," Angel said. "Lisa and D'Airrien were our leaders, and then Khemani looked good too. I was also really proud of our younger runners who continue to get better every time out."
Eshe' Robinson just missed a new season-best with a time of 9.51 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles.
Alexa Brugere was Tech's best athlete in the 800 meters, recording a mark of 2:24.98 in her first collegiate attempt.
Vivien Chesire ran in the event as well, and took a time of 2:38.56. It was nearly a 2-second improvement on her first attempt, which she ran during the team's first meet of the year in December.
"Overall, I think we're in a decent spot," Angel said. "It's still very early, and we haven't even come close to our peak yet. We are ramping up our intensity and improving as we go, which is the most important thing at this point in the season."
Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information