LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Once again adding to their impressive resume on the outdoor season, the Arkansas Tech women's track & field team ended the day with a third place team finish against a field of 14 competing teams at the Little Rock Twilight hosted by the University of Arkansas - Little Rock. The Golden Suns finished with the best team results among the participating teams in the Great American Conference beating out Ouachita Baptist (sixth overall) by 13 points, Southern Arkansas (seventh overall) by 20 points and Southeastern (ninth overall) by 39. The team also walked away with first place finishes in the 800 and 5000, while placing second and third in the 3000 meter steeplechase and find themselves once again soaring up the GAC leaderboard.
FINAL RESULTS
3000 METER STEEPLECHASE
Kicking things off for the Golden Suns was the 3000 meter steeplechase which saw
Calli Beshore,
Morganne Browning,
Kaelyn Dobbins and
Mandy Sykora take their places at the starting line. Crossing the finish line first was Beshore with an 11:21.76 overall time which earned her the second place finish. Coming in right behind Beshore was Browning with an 11:28.96 time and a third overall finish.
Next up was Dobbins who placed fifth overall in the race and came across with an 11:59.20 overall time. Rounding out the crew in the 3000 meter steeplechase was Sykora who clocked in with a 12:16.43 time and placed sixth.
This was only the second time the program has competed in the event and once again performed well. For Browning, Dobbins and Sykora, it was their very first time competing in the 3000 meter steeplechase.
Beshore and
Mary Beth Bailey still hold the top two overall times in the GAC, but following the race Browning now joins them at the top with the third best time for the 3000 meter steeplechase. Dobbins finish was enough to vault her up to seventh in the conference for the event and Sykora comes in with the eleventh best time in the conference.
800 METER
The lone runner and the only one they needed in the 800 for the Golden Suns was
Karina Maravillas. The sophomore crossed the finish line clocking in with a 2:20.59 time and took home the gold with the first place finish.
Maravillas still holds steady in the 800 with the fifth best overall time in the conference for her performance at the Joey Haines Invitational where she notched a 2:19.63 finish.
5000 METER
Closing out the day was the 5000 meter race where
Ashlynn Mays,
Marcie Cudworth and
Felicity West all laced up for Arkansas Tech.
The first to cross the finish in the race for the Golden Suns was Mays who came across with an 18:05.05 total time and was the second member of the team to grab a first place finish on the day. Following Mays in third place was Cudworth with an 18:25.94 finish. Cudworth's time sets a new personal record in the 5000 for the freshman. Finally, rounding out the squad competing in the 5000 was West who clocked in at 19:28.83 which earned her the eighth place finish.
Head women's track & field coach
Brock Hime was proud of the performance and effort by his team in the Little Rock Twilight.
"Tonight was a small example of what we are doing at Arkansas Tech, building this program from the ground up. After the meet I got a text from one of our recruit's parents congratulating the ladies on their performances, noting that we finished 3rd of 14 teams with a small group competing today. We aren't sacrificing the value of our program to fit the mold of large numbers, rather we have put an emphasis on building this thing event by event. I'm proud of our team."
UP NEXT
The Golden Suns will head to Jonesboro, Ark. to compete in the Red Wolves Open hosted by Arkansas State University for their final meet of the regular season. The meet will see action across two days with day one starting on Friday, April 22 and closing out on Saturday, April 23.
