By Nate Perry, TTU Sports Information
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Ohio Valley Conference Female Indoor Track Athlete of the Year Purity Sanga got off to an excellent start to her outdoor season Friday evening, running the 1,500 meters in 4-minutes, 26.32-seconds for second place at the Vanderbilt Black and Gold Invitational.
Sanga missed the overall victory by the slimmest of margins, coming in just two hundredths of a second behind Grace Jensen of Vanderbilt (4:26.30).
Sanga's mark stood out among the field of 76 runners, and was an encouraging improvement on her previous best of 4:37.93. She must cut off roughly five and a half seconds to catch Micayla Rennick's program standard of 4:20.92.
In four career attempts in the event, the sophomore has now finished in the top five three times, and has topped the podium once.
Raven Smith came in sixth place out of 13 in the triple jump, recording a distance of 11.59 meters. It was the 11th time in 13 career outdoor attempts that Smith finished sixth or higher.
Khemani Roberts was Tech's lone representative in the shot put, and threw it 11.29 meters for her second-best distance in four career outdoor heaves.
Janet Kwambai, Alexa Brugere and Vivien Chesire all made their collegiate debuts alongside Sanga in the 1,500. Kwambai came in sixth in her heat and 38th overall with a time of 4:46.44, while Brugere and Chesire took times of 5:05.81 and 5:16.14, respectively.
Sophomore Ceirra Tate led a group of three Golden Eagles in the 200 meters, clocking a 25.15-second split for 27th place out of 80 athletes.
Teauna Anderson and Jordan Toney were the other Tech entrants. While they ran in different heats, Anderson and Toney posted very similar marks of 26.34 seconds and 26.39 seconds, respectively. Toney's time was a new personal best by nearly two tenths of a second.
Tech's second day of action at Vanderbilt will get underway at 11 a.m. Saturday morning with the high jump and the long jump.
Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
