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| Senior Chelsea Malina (left) and sophomores Faith Barlow (center) and Dana Mecke won individual titles on Saturday. | ||
KINGSVILLE ? Senior Chelsea Malina, sophomores Faith Barlow and Dana Mecke and the 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams all were victorious on Saturday at the Javelina Invitational hosted by Texas A&M-Kingsville at Javelina Stadium.
Competing against teams from Texas, Texas-Pan American, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Texas Lutheran, UTSA registered 21 top-five finishes in the non-scored meet.
Malina was the top collegian and finished second overall with a toss of 114-0 in the javelin, just behind unattached Kendra Lilly’s 114-7.
Barlow pulled off a tough double, winning the 3,000m with a time of 10:46.06. She also finished fifth in the 1,500m with a season-best time of 4:52.20.
Mecke continued her strong season in the middle distances, leading a 1-2 finish by the Roadrunners in the 800m. She stopped the clock in a personal-best time of 2:13.38 to finish just ahead of freshman teammate Jayde James, who also recorded a PR of 2:14.70.
A trio of relay quartets also had successful afternoons passing the baton. The 4x100m team of junior Shanelle Slaughter, senior Brittany Epps, freshman Kayla Thomas and junior Ashley Jackson circled first in 46.67, a season best time for UTSA. The 4x400m foursome of Epps, Jackson, Slaughter and freshman Kim Brooks destroyed the team’s season-best time with a 3:47.65 clocking for top honors, while the “B” squad of James, Thomas and freshman Shavonne Armbrister and Lauren Wilson finished third in 3:54.36.
Epps turned in the team’s first NCAA regional-qualifying mark of the season, leaping to a runner-up measure of 20-0 ?, close behind the winning effort of 20-10 by Kassandrea Son of A&M-Corpus Christi. That jump also bettered her previous outdoor career-best of 19-5 ? posted earlier this season at the Border Olympics.
Epps’ leap led four Roadrunners in the top six in the long jump, as Thomas was third (18-8), Slaughter placed fifth (18-3 ?) and freshman Rebekah Hill took sixth (17-4 ?). Hill also skipped to a season-best 37-7 ? measure for fourth in the triple jump.
In other field event action, junior Rikki Gray and sophomore Natalie Squier both cleared 5-2 ? to finish third and fourth, respectively, in the high jump, while freshman Nikki Harris skied over 9-0 ? for fourth in the pole vault. Freshman Nolandra McCray placed fourth in the discus with a 124-0 effort.
On the track, Slaughter and Epps placed third (12.63) and fourth (12.69), respectively, in the 100m, sophomore Danielle Davenport took fifth (26.04) in the 200m, and Brooks and Armrbister crossed in third (56.67) and fifth (57.24), respectively, in the 400m.
The Roadrunners travel to Austin for the Texas Twilight next Saturday, April 19.