SEWANEE, Tenn. -- Senior Katie Lowery established a new school
record in the pole vault and Tennessee Tech notched nine other
career-best performances Saturday at the Tiger Indoor Invitational,
hosted by the University of the South.
Team scores were not tallied as several teams competed with
partial squads.
Golden Eagles captured first place finishes in five different
events, two by freshman Chelsea Mills, and claimed 15 Top 5
finishes in the meet. Mills captured first place in both the long
jump and triple jump, coming close to the school record in both
while posting career-best distances. The rookie from Chattanooga
also earned third-place finishes in both the 55-meter and 200-meter
races.
Mills won the long jump at 17 feet, 3.75 inches, just one inch shy
of the school record and a new personal best. In the triple jump,
she sailed 36 feet, 1.5 inches, tying her personal best and landing
less than nine inches shy of the school record. She was third in
the 55-meter dash in 7.47 seconds, and placed third in the
200-meter event in 27.19 seconds.
Lowery, who owns the school indoor and outdoor records, topped all
of her previous heights when she cleared the pole vault bar at 10
feet, 4 inches. It broke a streak of 10-foot jumps by the senior
from Andersonville, Tenn., during the indoor season, and bested her
10 feet, 3 inch outdoor record, as well.
Besides two firsts from Mills and a tie for first by Lowery, coach
Tony Cox also saw Rebecca Cline win the 3,000-meter run and the
Tech distance medley relay foursome capture first place. Cline, a
junior from Spring Hill, Tenn., finished ahead of the pack in the
3K run in the time of 10:56.00.
Kendale Caldwell, a sophomore from Powell, Tenn., earned a
second-place finish in the mile run with a personal-best 5:56.61.
In the high jump, junior Erin Keyes also grabbed second place
at 4 feet, 11 inches. The other second-place effort came in the
shot put, where senior Madison Borden had a runnerup toss of 38
feet, 8.25 inches.
Golden Eagle runners swept three of the top six spots in the
800-meter run, led by freshman Landry Loving with a time of 2:35.32
for third place. Junior Dalis Connell was fourth in 2:35.62, and
Caldwell placed sixth in 2:38.31. It was a personal-best for both
Connell and Caldwell.
In addition to Caldwell’s second-place run in the mike,
sophomore Elizabeth Mitchell placed fourth in 6:10.09, another
personal-best.
Two more career times came in the 3,000-meter run. With Cline
placing first, senior Beth Miller was fourth with a PR of 11:11.53,
and junior Meghan O’Donoghue was seventh, also posting a
personal-best in 11:47.65.
Kelli Keck, a junior from Crossville, was third in the triple jump
and fifth in the long jump, while Lacy Yslas, a senior from Sparta,
finished fifth in the shot put.
The Sewanee meet was the final action of the indoor season for the
Golden Eagles until the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor
Championships, Feb. 22-23, at Eastern Illinois in Charleston,
Ill.
