APSU Sports Information
West Lafayette, IN – As it turns out, adding a talented freshman to an already-talented group of jump specialists is a good recipe for success.
That’s what Austin Peay State University track and field found out at Saturday’s Gene Edmonds Invitational, hosted by Purdue, which saw freshman Maya Perry-Grimes lead a standout jumps group that swept the podium in the triple jump.
That was by no means the extent of Austin Peay’s success in Saturday’s field events.
Senior Chancis Jones (5.24m) placed fourth in the long jump, while Ross (fourth, 1.61m) and sophomore Nia Gibbs-Francis (t-fifth, 1.56m) posted top-five marks in the high jump as well.
Meanwhile, the ever-excellent pole vault duo of sophomores Savannah Amato (3.67m, second) and Dascha Hix (3.52m, fourth) each represented APSU in the top-five.
“Our triple jump group did a real nice job with a sweep, even without Chancis or Ashley (Woods),” said head coach Doug Molnar. “Our vaulters are in pretty good shape and made some progress over the break.”
On the track, freshman Diamond Battle qualified for the 60m dash finals, finishing seventh overall with a personal-best 7.67 mark; she also placed eighth in the 200m dash (25.99). Senior Terri Morris had the top overall individual finish for an APSU runner, posting a sixth-place, 59.76 mark in her first 400m attempt of the 2017 indoor season.
Austin Peay’s 4x400m relay team of Perry-Grimes, juniors Allysha Scott and Sonja White and freshman Amelia Thiesing placed fourth (4:01.88); White and Thiesing had busy weekends, placing second and third, respectively, in the pentathlon, with White winning the pentathlon 60m hurdles (9.00) and sharing the top spot in the pentathlon high jump (1.56m).
“Overall, I think we had a pretty good day,” Molnar said. “Our technical events are a little ahead of our other events. Our multis did well. Sonja did a solid job in her first pentathlon and is just going to get better; same for Amelia.
“I’m pleased with how we came back from break; we’re a young group, but it’s going to be fun to watch them grow over the weeks, months and years to come.”
The Govs make a return trip to Vanderbilt next week for the Commodore Invitational, a two-day meet at Vanderbilt’s Multipurpose Indoor Facility.
