MOBILE, Ala. – The Coastal Carolina sprinters had a successful first day at the 2021 Sun Belt Track and Field Championships at the Jaguar Track in Mobile, Ala., where they placed seven individuals in Saturday's finals.
WOMEN
The Chanticleers' 200-meter sprinters of sophomore Melissa Jefferson and freshmen Jermaisha Arnold and Kayla Sweeney will look to medal on Saturday as all three underclassmen earned three of the top four spots of the event preliminaries.
The Georgetown, S.C., native Jefferson earned the best time in the first of six preliminary races with a personal –best time of 23:55 (-0.2).
Arnold also put together her best performance of the season as the Conway, S.C., native ran a personal-best time of 23.98 (0.2), good for third place, and teammate Kayla Sweeney placed fourth with a time of 24.20 (-0.3).
Fellow Chants Amaryah White and Keniah Wallace were unable to earn spots in Saturday's final but had a successful day in none the less. White finished the 200 meters with a personal-record time of 24.59 (-0.2). Wallace fell three-thousandths of a second short of her personal best at 24.84 (-0.1).
Columbia, S.C., natives Shani'a Bellamy, and Lauren Gordon earned spots in the finals of the 400-meter hurdles on Saturday afternoon.
The freshman Bellamy ran the fourth-fast time in the preliminaries at 1:00.82, while the fellow freshman, Gordon, earned the last spot of finals as she crossed the finish line at 1:02.62.
Ashley Rulison competed in the 1,500 meters on Thursday but fell short of reaching the finals on Saturday, but the sophomore for the second meet in a row ran a personal-record time of 4:46.56.
In the heptathlon, freshman Anais Williams ended the first day eighth overall with 2,656 points. Williams picked up personal-best marks in the 100-meter hurdles (15.07 1.0)), the high jump (1.48 meters), and the 200 meters (25.85).
MEN
Sprinters Jeremiah Talbert and Ty Floyd gave Coastal Carolina two finalists in the 200-meter sprint finals on Saturday.
In the first preliminary race, the freshman Talbert ran a team season-best time and personal best of 21.43 (-0.1), while Floyd finished seventh overall as he ran a personal-record time of 21.46 (0.0).
In his first Sun Belt event, freshman Aaron Keeler finished in the top 15 of the javelin throw as he finished 11th overall and a mark of 53.72.
Doug Mullen also added a personal-best time to his four-year career as he finished the 10,000 meters on the day, almost three minutes faster than his previous best mark. The senior ran the oval track in a time of 32:39.90.
On the first day of the decathlon, junior Isaac Murdock sits fourth overall with 3,362 points. Murdock picked up personal-best marks in the high jump (1.80 meters) and the 400-meter dash (51.74).
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