Story by Gage Johnson, staff writer
Racers track and field comes up short
Murray State track and field saddled up and traveled to Purdue University for the Gene Edmonds Invite on Saturday, Jan. 13.
The Racers placed second in large part due to some notable performances in sprints, middle distance, long distance, as well the field events for the day. They went up against the likes of Purdue University, Indiana Tech and the University of Western Kentucky
Sophomore sprinter Tamdra Lawrence came away as Murray State’s top finisher in the 60-meter dash by placing fourth with a time of 7.61 seconds. Freshman Dontavia Howard and sophomore Daijah White also competed with Howard, posting times of 8.06 and 8.07, respectively.
Sophomore Jabreuna Brimlett led the way in the 60-meter hurdles by ending with a time of 8.60 while her fellow teammate, junior Taylor McCammon, finished with a time of 8.89. Murray State wrapped up sprints with a sixth-place finish from Lawrence, posting a 25.27 run time. White and junior Anna Curlin also ran for the Racers posting times of 26.78 and 26.87.
Freshman Norma Abdur-Rafia was the leader in the middle distance category for the Racers, finishing fifth in the 400-meter race with a time of 58.53 seconds, while freshman D’myia Thornton and sophomore Summer Wheeler were next in line, posting times of 59.36 and 1:02.53
Freshman Hillary McAdam began the long distance events by placing second in the 800-meters event posting a 2:18.10. Freshman Amanda Parker and fellow freshman Mallory Unverfehrt competed as well finishing at 2:38.87 and 2:45.10.
The mile event had three Racers complete it within a minute of each other. Sophomore Ida Mutai, junior Meagan Smith and junior Rebekah Priddy finished with times of 5:23.77, 5:23.78 and 5:26.45.
Murray State wrapped up the long distance events with a sweep of the 3000-meter race with Smith, Priddy, and Mutai taking first, second and third overall.
Freshman Hope Tewes and sophomore Aubrey Main opened up the field events by both posting a 1.56 meter high jump distance. Brimlett was able to place in the top 15 as well with a distance of 1.51m.
Sophomore Emily Heil posted a jump of 3.06m in the pole vault event, while freshman Allison Woerner entered the top 15 with a jump of 5.26m. McCammon also posted a jump of 4.90m.
Woerner led the way in the triple jump with a jump of 11.07m, while junior Jada Hubert finished with a jump of 9.99m.
Jewel Wagner and Destiny Carey wrapped up the day with shotput and weight throw. Wagner had a throw of 14.46m for weight throw and 12.37m in shot put, while Carey threw 13.73m for weight throw and 12.07m in shot put.
With the host Purdue University being the only team to top Murray State, they will now look ahead to the three-day event starting on Feb. 1 in Carbondale, Illinois, hosted by Southern Illinois University.
