2016 Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships: Women's Preview
May 09, 2016 | Track & Field
BOILING SPRINGS — The Gardner-Webb women's track and field team heads to the 2016 Big South Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships as a squad on the rise, and one poised for a run at its first top-five finish since 2012.
Sophomore Natasha Akbarizadeh (Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada) enters the championships in the proverbial driver's seat for a spot in the NCAA Division I East Region Championships later this month - currently sitting 23rd in the region with a high mark of 59.65 meters in the hammer throw.
Akbarizadeh's top mark came two weeks ago at the Mountaineer Outdoor Open, when the sophomore finished second in the hammer with a program- and personal-record of 59.65 meters - besting her previous mark by more than one meter. She is expected to be one of the top contenders in the hammer throw at this year's championships, and enters the week as the No. 2 seed in the event.
Sarah Mitchell (Roswell, Ga.) is expected to compete in three events - the shot put, discus throw and hammer throw - and is seeded in the top five in two of those competitions. Mitchell is seeded second in the shot put with a top mark and personal record of 14.09 meters, which she set at the Duke Invitational on April 22. The junior thrower is also seeded fourth in the discus throw with a PR of 42.65 meters, and 11th in the hammer throw with a mark of 44.90 meters.
Ivy Harris (Bailey, N.C.) will look to make a run at the podium in the 400-meter hurdles, entering the championships seeded sixth after placing 15th in the prelims last year. The Bailey, North Carolina native has made great strides during her sophomore season with the Runnin' Bulldogs, shaving nearly two seconds off her PR from last spring to post a top time of 1:04.55 this year.
Kayin Mujahid (Philadelphia, Pa.) is in the hunt for her second straight podium in the high jump, coming into the week seeded third with a top mark of 1.68 meters this season. Mujahid earned Big South All-Conference Second Team honors last spring with a jump of 1.65 meters, and has cleared at least 1.60 meters in each meet this season.
Merideth Byl (Tucson, Ariz.) has put together a strong senior season in the heptathlon, posting numerous PR's after winning the event at the Winthrop Invitational on March 29 with a personal-best 4,489 points. Byl is seeded fourth in the heptathlon this week, two slots ahead of teammate Ashleigh Cleveland (Raleigh, N.C.) in sixth.
Competition gets underway on Tuesday, May 10 at 12:30 pm with the women's discus throw, and will continue through Wednesday before concluding with the men's 4x400-meter relay at approximately 4:30 pm on Thursday, May 12. The championships are being hosted by Liberty University at the Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex in Lynchburg, Virginia. Live results will be available through Flash Results, Inc. throughout the championships, while Liberty will provide a live video feed - free of charge - through the Big South Network.
The full performance list for the championships, complete with event start times, can be found here.
