Akbarizadeh, Mujahid Pace Four All-Conference Performers at Big South Championships Wednesday
May 11, 2016 | Track & Field
LYNCHBURG, Va. — Kayin Mujahid (Philadelphia, Pa.) finished second in the high jump, and Natasha Akbarizadeh (Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada) replicated the feat in the hammer throw to lead four Big South All-Conference performers for Gardner-Webb Wednesday on the second day of the Big South Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Mujahid secured her third straight all-conference nod with a second-place performance in the high jump, tying her season-high of 1.68 meters and just clipping the bar at the championship height of 1.73 meters. The junior has finished second in the event each of the last two years after being crowned conference champion as a freshman.
Akbarizadeh placed second in the hammer with a mark of 58.03 meters, earning all-Big South honors for the first time in her career while clearing 58 meters in her third straight meet. A.J. White (Hurricane, W.Va.) secured his first-ever all-conference nod with a third-place performance in the discus, posting a top mark of 49.06 meters and coming within 87 centimeters of tying his personal record.
Jordan Smith (Chesterfield, Va.) finished fourth in the discus with a mark of 47.63 meters, while Marcus Abraham (Charlotte, N.C.) placed 10th with 43.01 meters. Clay Hamilton (Blair, Neb.) set a new personal record of 41.48 meters to finish 12th in the event.
Megan Melton (Riverside, Calif.) tied her PR in the pole vault en route to a fifth-place performance, and nearly set a new personal record on her final attempt at 3.85 meters. Kailey Robinson (Connelly Springs, N.C.) placed sixth in the event with a mark of 3.40 meters - 10 centimeters shy of her personal best.
Matthew Cook (Connelly Springs, N.C.) and Amy Turlington (Hendersonville, N.C.) each posted a new personal record in the prelims of the 800-meter run, crossing the line in 2:07.87 and 2:25.92, respectively, as Christopher Lile (Waynesville, N.C.) placed seventh in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a new PR of 10:00.59. Claire Cates (Hillsborough, N.C.) finished ninth in the women's steeplechase with a time of 11:42.96.
Merideth Byl (Tucson, Ariz.) paced the Runnin' Bulldogs in the heptathlon with 4,432 points, finished sixth and accumulating 57 points less than her personal-best, while setting new PR's of 5.17 meters in the long jump and 37.15 meters in the javelin throw. Ashleigh Cleveland (Raleigh, N.C.) placed ninth in the heptathlon with a personal-record 4,206 points, and established new personal bests in the javelin throw (25.94 meters) and 800-meter run (2:39.41).
Marcquel Woodard (Gainesville, Ga.) nearly made the final in the 400-meter dash, finishing ninth overall in the prelims with a mark of 49.87 seconds - 29 hundredths of a second behind the eighth and final qualifier. Bobby Clark (Clemmons, S.C.) missed his personal-record in the 100-meter dash by three-thousandths of a second, finishing with a time of 11.76 seconds.
The Runnin' Bulldogs sit sixth in the men's standings with 16 points entering Thursday's final day of competition, while the women's team is currently fifth with 32.50 points - four points behind fourth-place Winthrop.
Competition will begin Thursday at 11:00 am with the men's shot and will conclude with the men's 4x400-meter relay, which is slated to start at 4:30 pm. Fans can follow all the action live on the Big South Network, and find up-to-the-minute results at Flashresults.com.
