By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – More than a month has passed since the Tennessee Tech women's track & field team opened the indoor season in record-setting fashion at Vanderbilt.
On Sunday, coach Wayne Angel's team will return to the circuit to compete in the Ed Temple Invitational at Tennessee State University, and the second-year coach sees more school records and career-best performances on the horizon.
"As we resume our indoor campaign, our young women are very excited and ready to get started back," Angel said. "I am anticipating this indoor season to be one of the strongest in Tech history as exemplified by our performances at Vanderbilt in December."
Two marks that had been in the books for 18 and 15 years were among four school records broken at the Vanderbilt Opener.
Golden Eagle runners broke school records in the 200m, 400m, and 800m races individually, and the 4x400m relay record. In addition, returnees on the squad established four new personal-best marks at the event.
Jaydean Joseph, a junior from Grenada who spent the past two years attending junior college in the Bronx, finished fifth in the field of 37 runners in the 200m race, posting a time of 25.21 seconds. It broke the oldest mark in the school record book, a mark of 25:80 that was set on Feb. 14, 1998 at Middle Tennessee.
The first record to fall at Vanderbilt came from Na'Asha Robinson, a freshman from Huntsville, Ala. She posted a 400m time of 55.08 seconds on her sprint around the Vanderbilt track. Her time broke the previous record of 59.34, set on Feb. 27, 2010 at the OVC Indoor Championships.
D'Airrien Jackson, a freshman from Santa Clara, Calif., was next into the Tech record books, earning a fourth place finish in the 800m event. She broke a school standard that had stood for 15 years. Her time of 2:15.28 eclipsed the previous record of 2:15.89, set Feb. 24, 2001 by Michelle Kline at the OVC Indoor Championships.
The fourth school record to fall came in the team's final event of the afternoon. The 4x400m relay team of NaAsha Robinson, Joseph, Tiara Hymon and Jackson shattered the record by more than 13 seconds with a new mark of 3:49.69. The previous record of 4:02.89 was set in the 2010 OVC Indoor Championships.
"We now have a benchmark from which we can build upon," Angel said following the meet. "We just have to continue to work hard and get better each day."
Brittany McGee posted two of Tech's four carer-best marks at Vanderbilt. She clocked an 8.17 second effort at 60m, and ran the 200m in 26.95 seconds. The others came from Lera McNamara at 3,000m (11:53.58) and Makayla Kington in the weight throw (35'11").
Angel will take a team of 20 individuals to the meet at TSU's Gentry Center, where the Golden Eagles will compete with teams from Middle Tennessee State, Austin Peay, Murray State, Mississippi Valley and host Tennessee State.
Field events get underway at 8 a.m., with the running events schedules to start at 10:30 a.m.
Three of the other five teams in the field Sunday are OVC squads, so Angel said his athletes will get an early idea of where they stack up against league competition.
"We have a number of newcomers who are who are capable of contributing at the OVC Indoor Championships in February," Angel said.
"I really like this team," he added. "They are very competitive and dedicated hard workers. I look for Purity Murray, Jenna Storms, Sarah Brandt (in photo above), Sonel Bezuidenhout and Madison Stremler to make an impact for Tech in the distance events. I look forward to seeing what this team can accomplish; we believe that this will be a breakthrough season in 2016."
Tech's entries in the Ed Temple Invitational
High Jump – NaScottisha Drummond
Triple Jump – Raven Smith
Shot Put – Makayla Kington, Antonia Susnjar
55m – Na'Asha Robinson, Brittany McGee, Morgan O'Neal
400m – D'Airrien Jackson, Jaydean Joseph, Currin Washington
800m – Sarah Brandt, Madison Stremler, Andrea Retano
Mile Run – Sarah Brandt, Jenna Storms, Andrea Retano
200m – Tiara Hymon, Na'Asha Robinson, D'Airrien Jackson
5,000m – Purity Murray, Sonel Bezuidenhout, Lera McNamara
4x400 – Two teams will compete
