By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Following three days of hard-fought action at the Abe Stuber Track Complex on the campus of Southeast Missouri in Cape Girardeau, Mo., the Tennessee Tech track & field team finished competition at the 2025 Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships eighth overall.
The Golden Eagles finished with 44 total points, placing eighth among the 11 teams in competition. Southeast Missouri claimed the championship on its home turf with an impressive 191 points.
Sophomore Naomy Lokiles was the top performer of the weekend for the purple and gold, delivering a pair of runner-up performances in the 1,500-meter run and the 5,000-meter run. The Boise State transfer clocked in at 4:31.09 in the 1,500, picking up eight huge points for her new team.
In the 5K, Lokiles paced a trio of point scorers with another second-place finish and eight more points, clocking in at 17:05.05. Fellow sophomore Makaleigh Jessee scored five points for Tech in the event, producing a fourth-place finish with a time of 17:40.02. Rookie Rylee Wells rounded out the group with a seventh-place performance of 17:56.64, securing two more points.
Three more freshmen scored for the purple and gold on the weekend, with Rachael Brewer leading the way with a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles. The rookie turned in a performance of 1:04.81 for four points.
Hannah Little placed sixth in the 400-meter dash, crossing the finish line at 56.86 seconds for three Tech points. In the triple jump, freshman Tyla Street landed at 11.73 meters (38'5.75") to place seventh for two points.
Sophomore Madison Johnson cleared 1.64 meters (5'4.5") in the high jump to place fifth, while fellow sophomore Carolina Bannach finished seventh in the pole vault by clearing a height of 3.63 meters (11'11"). Johnson scored four points while Bannach jotted down two more points.
Completing the scoring for the Golden Eagles was the 4x400-meter relay squad of Kategie Casseus, Hannah Little, Aliyah Kennedy, and Paris Bowles. The Tech squad landed third on the podium with a mark of 3:46.23, locking down six more points for the effort.
"This is not where we want to be as a team," Tech head coach Peter Dalton expressed, "however, when you consider the youth that makes up the vast majority of this team, we could not be more excited for the future. We believe we have the talent here on the team; we just need a little more time and a few more select recruits to make a championship run in the very near future."
Photo by Rick Bassman
