BIRMINGHAM, ALA. - On day one of the 2020 Sun Belt Indoor Track and Field Championships, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers would see three individuals move onto Tuesday's finals of their respective events.
Freshman Melissa Jefferson would move into the 60-meter final as she finished the preliminaries with her second-best time of the season of 7.58. Teammate Madison Jones tied her second-best time of the season but was unable to move into the final, finishing with a time of 8.01.
Just over a week ago at VMI, Jefferson would add her first career 200-meter win, but on Monday, the freshman was unable to qualify for the Tuesday final as she ran top 20 time of 25.11. Fellow Chanticleers Tariney Pepper, Madison Jones, and Erin Palmer took part in Monday's 200 meters but also were unable to qualify. The freshman Pepper and Jones ran personal-best times of 25.28 and 26.02, respectively, while Palmer finished with a time of 26.12
Sadi Giles of Texas State was ranked first in the 60 meters and 200 meters in the Sun Belt Conference coming into the meet and Monday, the sprinter was able to score the fastest prelim time of each event.
In the 800 meters, Chant senior Alyssa LeClaire advanced to the finals with the fourth-best time of the day at 2:16.55. Teammate Rebecca Lehman finished outside the top 10 with a time of 2:24.72.
Tanner Guest of Troy had the fastest time in the 800-meter prelims as she finished at 2:15.03.
Hesmari Coetzee also earned a berth into the 400-meter dash finals as she qualified with a time of 56.59. Pepper, in her second event of the day, would finish inside the top 25 with a personal-best time of 58.99. Junior Mya Ray finished the 400 meters in 29th-place with a time of 1:01.49.
Imani Flanagan of Georgia State had the fasted time in the 400-meter prelims at 55.72.
Palmer and Erica Evans earned top 20 finishes in the preliminaries of the 60-meter hurdles. Palmer finished with a personal-best time of 8.97, good for 15th-place, and Evans finished in 19th-place with a time of 9.36.
Javlyn Cameron of Texas State won the prelims of the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.57.
Freshman Ashley Rulison finished the 5000-meter finals in 13th-place with a personal-best time of 18:07.97. Lotte Meyberg of Georgia State won the race with a time of 16:49.36.
The shot put finals saw freshman Ty-Layshia West add a top 10 finish with a throw of 12.79 meters. Fellow freshmen Shareya Newsome and Kacey Lombard finished in back-to-back positions at 15 and 16 with their own best throws of the meet at 11.78 meters and 11.63 meters.
Shot put winner Autavia Fluker of South Alabama earned the win with a meet-best throw of 15.34 meters.
In the long jump finals, freshman Jaquoia Williams finished outside the top 20 with her best jump of the day at 5.32 meters. Fellow Chanticleer finished outside the top 30 in the same event with her best jump of the afternoon at 4.57 meters.
Jasmine Scott-Kilgo of UL Monroe earned the win the meet-best 6.07 meters.
Day two of the 2020 Sun Belt Indoor Track and Field Championships will get started on Tuesday at 10 a.m
To stay up-to-date with Chanticleers in action, follow the Chanticleers on social media at @CoastalTFXC (twitter), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), and facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.
