Track team performs well at TSU Invitational

The Trojan track team put in a good performance on Saturday, Feb. 1, in Nashville, Tenn. Several Trojan women posted season-best results in the meet.

In the 1-mile run sophomore Julia Ostendorf finished eighth with a time of 5:21.79, which was her best time of the season.  Freshman Sara Lane ran the event in 5:32.12, which earned her nineteenth place.

In the 55-meter hurdles both sophomore Lacey Marcus and freshman Riley Schwietz placed in the top 10 in preliminaries to qualify for the finals.

Schwietz would finish sixth in the finals and Marcus would finish tenth. Schwietz’s performance moved her into the top 10 of the Sun Belt Conference in the 55-meter hurdles.

Senior Adria Hill fell just short of qualifying for the finals in the 55-meter dash. She finished thirteenth in preliminaries with a time of 25.91. The distance medley team finished seventh with a time of 12:44.02. The team is made up of Ostendorf, Lane, freshman Tabitha Parker, and sophomore Tina Bokenfohr. Head coach Jill Lancaster was pleased with the team’s performance.

“Our coaching staff can see progress, even on those that did not see it in the final results,” Lancaster said.

The men’s side had a very successful performance at the TSU Invitational, including a 55-meter hurdle win by senior Thaddeus Curtis. In the 55-meter dash, junior Daniel Dent and senior Jordan Landburg qualified for the finals by finishing third and fifth in the preliminaries respectively.

In the finals, Dent would finish third with a time of 6.36 while Landburg would finish right behind in fourth with a time of 6.39.

In the 200-meter dash, junior Benjamin Martin finished third and senior Tyrell Moore finished fourteenth, while junior Chaun Lynn finished fifth in the 400 meter-dash.

In the preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles, Curtis finished second and red shirt freshman Jaron Davis finished fifth, qualifying both for the finals.

In the finals, Curtis would take first place with a time of 7.51, shaving .16 seconds off his preliminary time. Davis finished that event in fifth while shaving .07 seconds off his prelim time. The team took fifth in the 4×400 meter relay with a time of 3:22.95.

In the field events, Dent placed third in the long jump, sophomore Myles Charley placed second in the triple jump and junior Demetris Elia placed third in the weight throw.

The teams have one more event before the Sun Belt Conference Championships. They will compete this weekend at the Samford Multi and Invitational in Birmingham on Feb. 7-8. The Sun Belt Conference Championships are also in Birmingham on Feb. 24-25.