By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – A strong finish, including five podium performances, lifted the Tennessee Tech outdoor track & field program to a fourth-place showing at the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, as the Golden Eagles climbed the leaderboard for the second straight day to close out competition in Edwardsville, Ill. Saturday evening.
Scoring 87 total points across the three-day event, highlighted by a whopping 60 on Saturday alone, the purple and gold clinched a fourth-place finish for all four Tech running programs. In the fall, the women's cross country team placed third at the OVC Championships while the men's cross country squad finished fourth. The indoor track & field program also finished fourth at the winter's OVC Championships.
A wicked, 1-2 punch in the high jump and come-from-behind showing in the 4x400-meter relay provided the spectacular finish to the weekend for the Golden Eagles, piling up 28 points between the two events alone.
Kendall Medders became just the third Golden Eagle in program history to claim the gold medal in the high jump, smashing her previous personal record to pace the field. The junior leaped to a new career-high mark of 1.69 meters (5'6.5") to secure a massive 10 points.
Fresh off becoming the first Tech athlete to win the heptathlon on Friday, Cayla Johnson followed it up with a silver-medal performance in the high jump, claiming eight points. The Upper Marlboro, Md. native also shattered her previous PR, setting a new record with a jump of 1.66 meters (5'5.25").
Closing out the long weekend of action was a heroic showing by the 4x400-meter relay squad, rallying late for a gold-medal finish. Sprinters Trenia Stephens, Paris Bowles, Malika Coutain, and Amara Nwajagu combined for a time of 3:46.60, coming from behind over the final 50 meters to edge out Southeast Missouri's group by 0.16 seconds.
Prior to anchoring the remarkable rally, Nwajagu turned in a podium performance in the 400-meter dash as a solo artist, placing third for six points. The sophomore blitzed her way to a new PR of 54.77 seconds. Also turning in a career-best time in the 400-meter was rookie Malika Coutain, finishing seventh for two points following a time of 56.98 seconds.
Rounding out Tech's podium showings was distance runner Helen Pacurariu-Nagy. The veteran rocked a third-place finish in the 5,000-meter run, picking up six points for the purple and gold after crossing the finish line with a time of 17:41.01.
Another dazzling highlight for the Golden Eagle program came from Bowles prior to her joint effort in the 4x400-meter relay. After the OVC Championships came to a screeching halt just prior to the 800-meter dash due to a lightning delay, the Tech freshman turned in a savvy display of effort.
Going head-to-head with a number of seasoned veterans, the rookie showed maturity in pressing the reset button and focusing on her craft. Bowles dashed to a time of 2:12.13, missing her own PR by one-tenth of a second for a fourth-place finish and five points to the Golden Eagle tally.
Also contributing to the huge day on the leaderboard was Anya Akili, racking up a PR in the 100-meter hurdles. The longtime veteran raced to a fifth-place performance with a new record time of 14.39 seconds for four points.
In the triple jump, Tech gathered six more points behind a pair of solid showings. Senior Jalena Curbeam just missed a podium finish with a mark of 11.64 meters (38'2.25"), settling for fourth place and five points for the program. Freshman Sidnee Stanton capped a spectacular rookie campaign by scoring one point for her squad, finishing eighth with an outdoor PR of 11.38 meters (37'4").
Stephens, Tenae Minor, Stanton, and Nwajagu teamed up earlier in the day to secure three points for the Golden Eagles, placing sixth in the 4x100-meter relay. The quartet combined for a time of 47.12 seconds.
"I couldn't be more proud of everyone," Tech head coach Peter Dalton expressed. "Each and every one of our student-athletes worked so hard all season and this is where that work pays off. Each of our four teams earned top-four finishes this year, so it was nice to round out the year contributing to where we need to be in the Commissioner's Cup."
Photos by TTU Track & Field
