By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – A historical performance and many personal records helped the Tennessee Tech outdoor track & field team climb the leaderboard up to fifth on day two of the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships Friday in Edwardsville, Ill.
Opening the up the day with a bang was junior Cayla Johnson, becoming the first Golden Eagle in program history to win the heptathlon at the OVC Championships. After leading the field through four events at the end of Thursday, the Upper Marlboro, Md. native held on in the end with a personal record of 4,764 points to edge the silver medalist by four points.
Johnson kicked off the second day with a win in the long jump portion of the event, setting a new PR with a mark of 5.49 meters (18'0.25"). She placed fifth in the javelin with a distance of 28.20 meters (98'6") and sixth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:36.57 to clinch 10 huge points for the purple and gold.
Adding eight more points to the Tech effort was veteran Anya Akili, absolutely smashing her previous career record in the long jump by more than a full foot to place second overall. The senior leaped to a new personal-best mark of 5.84 meters (19'2"), easily clearing her old record of 5.52 meters.
Rookie Sidnee Stanton nearly pulled in a point of her own in her OVC Championships debut, settling for a ninth-place finish in the long jump. Her distance of 5.60 meters (18'4.5") marked a new PR, besting her old mark by 2.25 inches.
Heading to the track portion of the day, Akili returned to work with another impressive showing, setting a new career record in the 100-meter hurdles. Her time of 14.46 seconds was good enough for seventh and qualified her for a spot in the finals on Saturday.
Sophomore Amara Nwajagu blazed to a new PR of 55.39 seconds in the 400-meter dash, pacing the field to lock down a spot in Saturday's final. Freshman Malika Coutain also locked down her own position in the final race, placing eighth in the preliminaries with a personal-best showing of 57.27 seconds.
Also cementing a place in the finals of her given event was rookie Paris Bowles, finishing eighth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:14.33.
Rahab Sawe contributed another five points to the Golden Eagle total in the final event of the evening, placing fourth overall in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The Tech veteran clocked in at 11:33.56.
In the 100-meter dash, Tenae Minor narrowly missed a spot of her own in the finals, placing 10th with a new PR of 12.12 seconds.
Saturday's final action will kick off with field events at 11:00 a.m. CT and running events at 12:30 p.m.
Photo by OVC
