Two Austin Peay State University track and field athletes posted first-place finishes, Friday, in the BSC Panther Icebreaker. The indoor season opening meet was hosted by Birmingham-Southern inside the Birmingham CrossPlex.
"Out of all my years at Austin Peay, we have never had a group open the indoor season this well," Governors' head coach Valerie Brown said. "Today was a good day not just for one event group but for every athlete. It's evident that our training this fall has put us in a very good position to have success this indoor season. Many athletes had performances that were close to their personal best or had a personal best overall. That speaks volume for the direction we are headed in."
Austin Peay's Kenisha Phillips won the 200 meter dash in 23.85 seconds, a new meet record by .09 seconds and the second fastest time in program history. Kyra Wilder was second in 200 meter dash in 25.12 seconds, and Isis Banks finished sixth in 25.54 seconds. Camaryn McClelland took sixth in the 60 meter hurdles in a time of 8.94 seconds. Mikaela Smith was seventh in the 1 mile run with a time of 5:27.64. Alexis Arnett recorded a ninth-place finish in the 400 meter dash after crossing the finish line in 59.59 seconds.
The Governors' 4x400 meter relay team of Phillips, Wilder, Banks, and Arnett finished fourth in 3:55.65.
Austin Peay's Amani Sharif won the long jump with a mark of 5.77 meters and tied for third in the high jump after clearing 1.60 meters. Elsa Eriksson tied for second in the pole vault after clearing 3.70 meters. Emma Tucker was sixth in the shot put after a toss of 13.02 meters.
"The biggest challenge this group will have now is training hard over the break so we can come back in January and pick up where we left off," Brown commented. "This is a young but extremely talented team. If we can continue to train hard over the holiday break, we are going to be in a very good place come February."
The Governors take part in the Ed Temple Invitational, hosted by Tennessee State, on Jan. 8.
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