By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
SEWANEE, Tenn. – It was a plethora of personal and season bests for the Tennessee Tech indoor track & field team Saturday, as the Golden Eagles took part at the Tiger Indoor Meet hosted by Sewanee at Fowler Center Fieldhouse in Sewanee, Tenn.
The purple and gold boasted a whopping six first-place performances on the day, as well as 15 overall podium finishes. The Golden Eagles dominated while competing across 10 events.
Rookie Bay'Andria Hodges picked up a pair of first-place showings, topping the field in the 55-meter dash with a new personal record of 7.19 seconds. The freshman later helped guide Tech's 4x400-meter relay squad, along with junior Amara Nwajagu, sophomore Paris Bowles, and junior Kategie Casseus, to a first-place finish with a time of 4:06.96.
Nwajagu followed Hodges closely in the 55-meter, ranking third with a season-best time of 7.40 seconds. Veteran Anya Akili placed fifth behind a PR of 7.51 seconds while Casseus tacked on an 8th-place performance by clocking in at 7.92 seconds.
Bowles earned her own first-place display on the day with a new personal-best mark in the 400-meter dash of 1:00.50. Kendall Johnson picked up a pair of season-best performances, finishing third in the mile run with a time of 5:41.10 and fourth in the 800-meter run with a mark of 2:38.80.
Tech's jumps unit was particularly efficient on the day, led by Sidnee Stanton. The sophomore won the long jump with a season-best mark of 5.42 meters (17'9.5") before turning in a third-place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 10.79 meters (35'4.75").
Akili picked up a runner-up showing in the long jump behind a leap of 5.32 meters (17'5.5") while rookie Mattie Bush helped Tech sweep the podium with a 5.26-meter (17'3.25") display that brought in a third-place showing. Bush also placed fourth in the triple jump, delivering a mark of 10.72 meters (35'2").
Freshman Angela Hoover managed a PR in the triple jump to earn a fifth-place finish, locking down a distance of 10.45 meters (34'3.5"). She also earned a third-place performance in the pole vault, clearing 3.05 meters (10'0"). Fellow rookie Carolina Bannach continued the incredible start to her career, securing a first-place showing in the pole vault with a mark of 3.35 meters (10'11.75").
"We expected to perform well today at Sewanee, and we did," Tech assistant coach Tony Cox said. "This was a fun meet for us and will serve as a confidence booster for the upcoming week of training. We have two weeks until our next meet, so we will be able to get some good practice in and work on some of the finer points of the events."
The Golden Eagles compete next at the Music City Challenge, a two-day event hosted by Vanderbilt on Friday, Feb. 9 and Saturday, Feb. 10 in Nashville.
File photo by Thomas Corhern
