APSU Sports Information
Birmingham, AL – As final tune-ups go, this was a great one for the Governors.
Austin Peay State University track and field got 14 personal-bests and some movement up the league-leaderboard at the 2019 Samford Open, concluding regular-season indoor action with a bevy of solid performances that head coach Doug Molnar hopes will portend to good things two weeks from now at the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Championships.
Austin Peay saw its Saturday get off to a solid start in the field events thanks to freshman long jumper Camaryn McClelland, who placed seventh thanks to a 5.33m leap on her third attempt. She followed that up with qualification into the 60m hurdles finals with an 8.71 in the semifinals; she joined sophomore Lennex Walker, who qualified second with a personal-best 8.62. McClelland sat in 16th after the preliminary round but qualified for the finals after shaving more than a tenth of a second off her career-best in the semis.
McClelland wasn’t finished; her personal-best 11.31m triple jump earned her eighth place, and she again lowered her mark in the 60m hurdle finals with an 8.78 run to finish third, just behind Walker, whose runner-up 8.67 marked three times in her last four attempts she’s been at 8.70 or better. Walker now ranks second in the OVC in the event, with McClelland angling hard for the podium in fourth.
“The 200m performance on day one was big for us,” Molnar said. “The hurdle crew was outstanding. Walker, McClelland and (sophomore Kaitlyn) Black all equaled or bettered their personal-bests, with Black finally breaking nine seconds in the event.”
Tolbert also earned qualification to the finals in the 60m dash event, racing 7.68 in the preliminary round and 7.62 in semifinals to gain qualification while winning the third heat in the prelims and the second heat in the semis. She would place third overall in the 58-runner field with a 7.61 run in the finals, her fourth top-five in five 60m attempts this season.
In the pole vault, senior Savannah Amato reclaimed a spot at the top of the leaderboard, outpacing Florida A&M’s Jazmyn Dennis on jumps at 3.95m to take the top spot; classmate Dascha Hix was third with a 3.80m mark, with sophomore Morgan Bradley fourth with a season-best 3.65m height.
In the non-NCAA 1000m run, freshman Molly Howard placed fifth with a 3:12.99 mark.
Austin Peay capped the day with a huge win in the 4x400m relay, fending off Tennessee Tech’s quartet to not only win the event with a season-best 3:49.14 but also take over the top spot in the OVC standings as well. Freshman Kyra Wilder led off, with freshman Jessica Kelley keeping pace and Richman closing before handing off to sophomore Allana Johnson, who overtook Tennessee Tech at the final turn to give the Govs the victory.
“We’ve been waiting on a big run like that all year long from the relay crew,” Molnar said. “Overall, I’m really excited to see what this group does at the OVC Championships.”
Austin Peay will take next week off to rest up ahead of the 2019 OVC Indoor Championships, February 20th-21st, in Birmingham.
