Story by Nigel Walton
Contributing writer
The Racers showed up and showed out this last weekend at the Bulldog Open in Birmingham, Alabama, by winning three events.
“This past weekend was a great last tune up for conference.” Head Track Coach Adam Kiesler said. “There are a few things to work on, but for the most part we are pointing in the right direction.” Kiesler said.
Senior Tamdra Lawrence claimed the top spot on the 200m with a time of 24.17, defeating 66 other runners from over 30 schools, including OVC rivals Austin Peay, Belmont, Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech.
Junior Norma Abdur-Rafia was not far behind Lawrence as she finished fourth with a time of 24.64, while freshman Rachel Hagans ran the race in 25.69 seconds to finish 22nd.
Lawrence kept the momentum going with a second-place finish in the 60m with a time of 7.56.
For the second time this season senior Jabreuna Brimlett won the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.55, and also finished fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 11.68.
After finishing fifth in the 800m last week junior Hilary McAdam brought that momentum to the 400 and finished fourth out of 65 runners with a time of 57.63.
Freshman Dani Wright and Junior Katelyn Gilbert both set personal records in the mile with times of 5:27.87 and 5:29.45.
Freshman Ashlyn Oren won the high jump on Friday and followed that up with a third place finish in the long jump Saturday with a jump of 5.46m
With her best performance of the season in the weight throw with a distance of 14.90m, senior Rachel Gootee finished in fifth place out of 30 competitors.
Three racers showed up in the 1000m as all of them finished top ten, with freshman Emma Creviston leading the way placing third with a time of 3:05.03. Freshman Morgan Vosle followed coming in fourth with a time of 3:11.23, while freshman Meghan Easton finished ninth (3:19.97).
Freshman Brooke Misukonis placed fifth in the pole vault (3.65) while fellow freshman Jessie Kinder placed ninth with a jump of 3.35.
Needing to clear 1.70m in the high jump to win the event, Oren sailed over the bar on her final attempt of the night, setting a personal record to earn her first win of the year and her career. Senior Aubrey Main tied for second with a jump of 1.65m while redshirt sophomore Jessikha Ribeiro cleared 1.60m to finish eleventh out of 30 competitors.
The Racers concluded the meet with a third place finish in the 4×400 relay with the squad of Lawrence, Abdur-Rafia, McAdam and Main with a time of 3:50.21.
“It isn’t about winning individual events. We want to go win a team title and we are going to do everything we can to try and do that.” Kiesler said.
The Racers are improving week after week, setting new personal records and have no sign of slowing down. They will look to conclude a good indoor track season in two weeks at the indoor OVC championship on Feb. 20 in Birmingham, Alabama.
“These next two weeks we will try and get as healthy as possible while trying to fine tune all of the technical aspects/ racing strategies for each event.” Said Kiesler.
