Five Runnin' Bulldogs Win Individual Events for Gardner-Webb Track & Field at the Winthrop Invitational
April 01, 2012 | Track & Field
Rock Hill, S.C. - Juniors Ivana Hughes, Ashlei Alexander, and Bethany Wright, as well as seniors Caroline Arledge and Elisabeth Sawyer, took top honors in individual events to lead Gardner-Webb track & field at the Winthrop Invitational.
Hughes (Evans, Ga.) took top honors in the Women's 400 m Dash, racing to a new school record time of 55.64 in the event. The performance marked a personal best for Hughes.
Alexander (Queens, NY) earned the top spot in the Women's Shot Put, posting a distance of 13.34 m to lead Gardner-Webb in the event.
Arledge (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) was 1st in the Women's Javelin Throw, giving the Runnin' Bulldogs the top spot in the event with a distance of 37.62 m.
Wright (Clayton, Ga.) won the Women's Pole Vault with a height of 3.50 m. The junior earned her first win of the season with the performance.
Sawyer (Charlotte, N.C.) was victorious in the Women's 3000 m Steeplechase. The senior raced to a time 11:48.25 in the event.
Gardner-Webb got a first place finish in the Women's 4x400 m Relay, as Katy Milton, Nicole Saxton, T'Keyah Bell, and Hughes teamed up to record a time of 3:53.80, outracing Ohio's time of 3:55.83 to earn top event honors.
The women's squad got a pair of Top 8 finishes in the 200 m Dash. Milton (Monroe, N.C.) paced the Runnin' Bulldog effort in the event, posting the 2nd fastest time with a personal best of 25.78. Sophomore Nancy Cates (Waynesboro, Ga.) grabbed the 6th fastest time for GWU, finishing in a personal best time of 26.88.
Cates also finished 6th in the 100 m Dash for the women's squad, finishing in 13.06. The sophomore achieved a season best time of 13.00 in prelims of the event.
Fellow junior Bell (Cherryville, N.C.) added a 2nd place finish in the Women's 400 m Dash, timing in at a personal best 56.96. Junior Leah Steinke (Green Cove Springs, Fla.) finished 12th in the event at 1:01.69, and sophomore Ashley Slate (High Point, N.C.) was 14th with a time of 1:03.05.
Steinke added a 5th place effort in the 400 m Hurdles, achieving a time of 1:08.21.
Junior Taylor Cook (Boone, N.C.) tied for 2nd in the Pole Vault, giving Gardner-Webb a 1-2 finish in the event. Cook achieved a height of 3.35 m in the event.
Senior Sarah Herd (Cherryville, N.C.) finished 3rd in the High Jump, reaching a height of 1.65 m to lead the Runnin' Bulldogs in the event.
Gardner-Webb filled up half the Top 10 in the Women's Hammer Throw, placing five throwers in the event's first ten spots. Alexander led the way with a 2nd place showing, achieving a top distance of 51.49 m. The personal best performance set a new school record, resetting GWU's previous best set by Brie Thompson (51.25 m) in 2010.
Fellow junior Yazzming Lee (Paterson, NJ) followed in 3rd place, tossing 45.86 m.
Sophomore Jasmine Miles (Amelia, Va.) was 4th in the event, throwing a distance of 45.53 m. Sophomore Kyntoya Hansford (Miami, Fla.) threw 39.71 m, good enough for 7th place, and junior Stephanie Hamilton (Blair, Neb.) finished 10th after achieving a distance of 32.13 m in the event.
GWU's throwers also impressed as a unit in the Women's Shot Put, as the team saw four student-athletes earn Top 10 finishes. In addition to Alexander's 1st place finish, Gardner-Webb got a 3rd place finish from Miles, who tossed 12.81 m in the event.
Hamilton earned her second Top 10 finish of the weekend with a 5th place showing in the Shot Put, achieving a distance of 12.10 m. Hansford likewise earned another Top 10 finish, tossing a 10th best 10.61 m in the event.
In the Women's Discus Throw, Alexander achieved a 2nd place showing at 36.69 m, giving her three Top 2 finishes for the weekend. Hansford was 5th with a distance of 34.74 m, and Hamilton finished 7th at 34.55 m.
In the Women's 800 m Run, junior Ariel Zimmerman (Williamsburg, Va.) paced the Runnin' Bulldogs with a 7th place finish with a time of 2:20.91. Senior Cherish Richardson (Augusta, Ga.) added a 10th place finish, timing in at 2:23.33. GWU also got a 12th place showing in the event, as sophomore Katie Spiro (Sylva, N.C.) finished in a time of 2:27.53.
Spiro added a 4th place finish in the Javelin Throw, achieving a personal best distance of 28.84 m in the event. Junior Tomora Parker (Maiden, N.C.) was 10th best in the event with a distance of 22.07 m.
GWU was led in the 5000 m Run by senior Elizabeth Glunk (Carrollton, Va.) whose time of 19:29.25 netted her an 8th place finish.
In the Women's Long Jump, Milton garnered a 4th place finish, achieving a distance of 5.30 m.
Sophomores Kristen Hurley (Columbia, Conn.) and Olivia Moody (Plano, Ill.) finished 2nd and 3rd in the Heptathlon, accumulating 4400 and 4033 points respectively for the Runnin' Bulldogs.
Highlighting the men's effort were four top performances in the Hammer Throw, as Carson Sears, Travis Rogers, C.J. Wise, and Josh Padgett each earned Top 8 marks. Sears (Suwanee, Ga.) put up the 2nd best showing, tossing a distance of 60.69 m to lead GWU in the event. Rogers, a senior from Conyers, Ga., followed in 4th place with a performance of 55.43 m.
Earning a 6th place finish was Wise (Butler, Pa.), who threw a distance of 49.50 m in the event. Padgett (Forest City, N.C.) finished 8th, tossing 45.78 m for the Runnin' Bulldogs.
Gardner-Webb's throwers continued to put up strong performances in the Men's Shot Put. Sears earned a 3rd place showing with a distance of 15.12 m. In 5th was Rogers at 14.75 m, and earning an 11th place finish was junior Andy Scates (Boiling Springs, N.C.), who achieved a distance of 12.73 m.
Scates tacked on a 4th best performance in the Men's Discus Throw, tossing a personal best 42.93 m in the event. Freshman Nathan Padfield (LaVergne, Tenn.) put up the 11th best distance in the event at 35.03 m.
GWU was paced in the Men's 400 m Hurdles by sophomore Johnathan Parks' 3rd place performance. The sophomore from Douglasville, Ga. timed in at 54.62 in the event.
Sophomore Mike McClay (Lawrenceville, Ga.) finished 7th in the 10000 m Run, timing in at 35:04.52.
Padgett's personal best performance led the GWU men in the Javelin Throw with a 3rd place finish, as the senior reached a distance of 44.14 m in the event. Wise, another GWU senior, followed in 4th at 42.15 m. Sophomore Jarrett Willis (Shelby, N.C.) grabbed 8th at 37.90 m, and Padfield rounded out GWU's Javelin performers with a 9th place showing with a distance of 36.33 m.
Sophomore Drew Ford (Wasilla, Ak.) picked up a 6th place finish in the Men's 3000 m Steeplechase, finishing with a personal best time of 10:39.28. The performance marked the second consecutive in which Ford has improved upon his personal best.
In the Decathlon, freshman Ben Bell (Greensboro, N.C.) picked up a 3rd place finish, posting 5211 points in the event. Bell put up the 2nd best in the Shot Put and 1500 m Run portions of the event at 10.46 m and 5:00.03 respectively.
Sophomore Tavarus Ferguson (Evans, Ga.) recorded a distance of 6.20 m in the Men's Long Jump, placing 11th in the event.
A pair of runners earned Top 20 finishes in the Men's 5000 m Run. Sophomore Justin Loy (Burrington, NH) finished 10th with a time of 16:19.38, and senior Brandon Tipton (Kannapolis, N.C.) was 20th at 20:12.97.
In the 1500 m Run, sophomore Trey Crook (Lexington, N.C.) earned an 11th place finish with a personal best time of 4:11.60. The performance shattered Crook's previous best, outdoing his previous PR in the event by over 15 seconds.
GWU sophomore Galen Keene (Brevard, N.C.) posted the 12th fastest time in the 400 m Dash, attaining a time of 51.75 in the event. Keene added a personal best time of 2:03.25 in the 800 m Dash, good enough for 20th place in the event.
Sophomore Marquise Joyce (Greensboro, N.C.) earned an 11th place showing in the Men's 200 m Dash, finishing with a time of 23.02. Joyce added a 15th place finish in the 100 m Dash, achieving a time of 11.60 in the event.
Gardner-Webb's A 4x400 m Relay, comprised of Codi Merritt, Parks, Josiah Stanton-Brooks, and Keene, took 3rd place with a time of 3:17.74.
GWU track & field will return to action with a trip to Gainesville, Fla. for the Florida Relays April 6-7.
| Meet Results |
