By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A well-rounded showing at the Birmingham CrossPlex led to a second-place standing for the Tennessee Tech indoor track & field team following the first of two days of competition at the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships on Wednesday.
The Golden Eagles tallied 30 points on the first day of action in Birmingham, holding a one-point edge over third-place Eastern Illinois. Southeast Missouri led the standings with 58 points.
"It was a really strong showing on day one," Tech head coach Peter Dalton expressed, "kicked off by our high jump crew. Our distance squad brought a successful first day of the championships to a close while our sprint group did amazing with a lot of them qualifying for the finals tomorrow."
Rising to the challenge was a quartet of Golden Eagle leapers tackling the high jump. Rookie Ally Beneke made her mark in her first OVC Championships, earning a spot on the podium with a runner-up performance and eight huge points. The freshman smashed her old personal record in the event, clearing 1.69 meters (5'6.5").
Fellow first-year Madison Johnson just missed joining her teammate on the podium but still racked up five points for the purple and gold with a fourth-place finish. The Jacksboro, Tenn. native delivered a jump of 1.61 meters (5'3.25"), matched by two of her teammates.
Veteran Cayla Johnson also cleared 1.61 meters, placing fifth due to the number of attempts throughout the event. Her four points were joined by another two from junior Kendall Medders, who finished seventh with a mark of 1.61 meters as well.
On the distance side of things, there were more points to be had for the Cookeville crew, starting in the 5,000-meter run. Veteran Helen Pacurariu-Nagy led the way for the purple and gold, collecting a fifth-place finish and four more points with a new PR of 17:39.14.
Cookeville native Maddie Long collected two more points for the Tech effort with a seventh-place performance, also turning in a new lifetime-best mark of 17:46.52. It was a trio of PRs in the event, as Ava Costello crossed the finish line at 18:32.30.
Another quartet of Golden Eagles brought home more points in the distance medley relay, inking a fourth-place finish for five of them. Kendall Johnson led off the group with Kategie Casseus taking over for the second leg. She handed it over to rookie Hayley Stegall before fellow freshman Makaleigh Jessee brought the race home.
Three Tech sprinters clinched spots in the finals on Saturday, led by the veteran of the team, Anya Akili. Dashing to a new PR in the 60-meter hurdles, she turned in a time of 8.96 to place eighth in qualifying.
Qualifying in the 400-meter dash was Amara Nwajagu, who delivered the second-fastest time in the event on the day at 56.44 seconds. Paris Bowles racked up a season-best mark in the 800-meter dash, placing fifth in qualifying with a time of 2:16.89.
Day two of the OVC Indoor Championships will kick off at 9:00 a.m. CT with combined events, while field events will begin at 11:00 a.m. and running events are slated to start at 12:30 p.m.
Photo by Michael Wade
