APSU Sports Information
Oxford, AL – Austin Peay State University women’s track and field, in their first opportunity to hit the track that will host the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championships, got a number of strong individual performances at the Gamecock Quad, hosted by Jacksonville State at Choccolocco Park.
Savannah Amato continued her winning ways in the pole vault. The sophomore hit 3.50m to open the outdoor season, walking away with an easy victory; juniors Gretchen Rosch (t-second, 3.35m) and Demi Nicolozakes (fifth, 2.75m) placing in the top-five.
A trio of Govs found their way into the top-five in the long jump, with Kaylnn Pitts (third place, 5.63m), Chancis Jones (fourth, 5.58m) and Sonja White (5.19m, fifth) picking up a dozen points toward the Govs tally. A fourth Gov, freshman Briana Shaw, placed third in the triple jump (11.61m) and sophomore Nia Gibbs-Francis rounded out a successful showing from the Governors jumpers with a third-place, 1.57m high jump mark.
“Our long jumpers did a nice job, didn’t even take their final-round jumps,” Molnar said. “Gretchen and Savannah did a really nice job in the vault; Gretchen cleared 11 feet on a short run and short pole. They had solid efforts based on the conditions.”
Emmaculate Kiplagat turned heads with a win in the 5000m run. The sophomore’s personal-best 18:40.97 bested the field by more than 40 seconds and was the best by a Governor during outdoor season since 2015 (Lydia Saina, APSU Invitational). Another Gov, junior Sarah-Emily Woodward, placed third in the red division with a 20:09.07.
Elsewhere on the track, senior Terri Morris began putting an injury-plagued indoor season behind her, finishing fourth in the 400m dash with a 59.22 mark. White completed a strong weekend in the field and on the track, finishing fourth in the 200m dash (25.54) and fifth in the 100m (12.74) in the red division.
“We got a lot of good performances in the 200 and 400 this week,” Molnar said. “Emma and Sarah-Emily had nice races in the 5K; Sarah-Emily is about 40 seconds ahead of where she was last year. We’ll take this week off, work on some technical stuff and really get rolling at Ole Miss.”
Austin Peay’s men’s cross-country runners got a chance to compete this week as well. Nash Young swept the 800 (2:04.59) and 1500m runs (4:17.26), while Tyler Smith (16:34.79), Hezron Kiptoo (16:34.80) and Wesley Gray (16:34.81) taking the top-three spots in the 5000m run.
The Govs will take a week away from the track and return to action March 25th at the Ole Miss Invitational in Oxford, Mississippi.
