Trojan track and field teams finish regular season at Samford Open

Troy’s indoor track team picked up a pair of mid-tier finishes at the Samford Open in Birmingham over the weekend on Friday and Saturday.

The Trojans wrapped up their regular season schedule at the Birmingham Crossplex with the women’s team placing sixth out of nine teams and the men finishing fifth out of eight teams. Both can now look forward to postseason play, which starts Monday.

The event was the fifth time the team has traveled to Birmingham this season.

Strong individual performances from freshman Amir Harris and senior Niata Alexander helped the Trojans finish the season in respectable positioning.

Alexander rolled through the 200-meter dash finals with a second-place finish clocked at 24.32 seconds. She gave her team the most points in one event on the day for the women’s side.

Precious Ogba continued her recent hot streak by finishing fifth with a time of 25.10 seconds in the same event. Fellow freshman Madison Kennedy had a run through of 25.42 seconds, which was good for ninth place.

Harris helped the men’s side dominate the dashes on Saturday. He finished first in the 200-meter dash, clocking in at 21.51 seconds. Sophomore Juvon Treasure picked up the second place spot with a time of 22.40 seconds.

Treasure and Johnson combined for a total of 18 points.

It was a good day for underclassmen in general as freshman Jared Hayes also chipped in 10 points for finishing in second place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.09 seconds.

Junior Michael Alvernaz dominated the weight throw, finishing with a distance of 20.35 meters as the meet came to a close.

The men’s side finished in fifth place with 55 points. The women were equally impressive with a sixth-place finish of 49 points.

With the season finale over, the teams can look forward to eight days of rest before postseason play on Feb. 19. The two-day Sun Belt Indoor Championships will be held in the Birmingham Crossplex.