SHAWNEE, Okla. - Following their great performance yesterday on the opening day of the GAC Outdoor Championships, the Arkansas Tech women's track & field team once again makes a strong showing for day two in the 800m prelims and the 3000m Steeplechase. The day ended with crowning the first ever conference champion in program history for their performance in the 3000m Steeplechase. Following the end of today's events, the Golden Suns currently sit in third place overall as a team with 34 total points.
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FINAL DAY TWO RESULTS
800M PRELIM
Arkansas Tech opened up the second day of action with the preliminaries of the 800m race. Set to go in their all-black uniforms for the Golden Suns in this one was
Karina Maravillas and
Felicity West as they looked to perform well and make it to the finals of the event tomorrow.
Crossing the finish line first for Arkansas Tech in the 800m Prelim was Maravillas with a time of 2:20.48 which earned her the fourth overall finish and a spot in the finals for the event tomorrow. Following behind Maravillas was West who clocked in with a 2:23.02 overall time giving her eighth place in the race. She joins Maravillas with a spot to compete in the finals for the 800m tomorrow as both members of the Golden Suns that participated in the event secured a spot. West's time in the event also set a new personal record for the sophomore.
3000M STEEPLECHASE
The team ended the day with the 3000m Steeplechase looking to continue their strong showing. Lacing up for the event was
Calli Beshore,
Morganne Browning,
Mary Beth Bailey and
Mandy Sykora. During the race, Beshore was leading all but took a hard fall and had to pull out of the race due to injury.
The Golden Suns still came out on top though as Browning took charge and finished first overall with a time of 11:22.17 to give the program their first ever conference champion. Brownings finishing time set a new personal record in the 3000m Steeplechase for the Fayetteville, Ark. native.
The next member of Arkansas Tech was not far behind as Bailey crossed the finish line with an 11:26.39 total time, which earned her runner-up in the event. Closing out the group in the 3000m Steeplechase for the Golden Suns was Sykora with an 11:54.26 time netting her the eighth place spot and a new personal record. All three members of the Golden Suns who crossed the finish line earn a spot on the All-Conference list for their performance in the 3000m Steeplechase.
Head women's track & field coach
Brock Hime was impressed with the performance by his team today and is excited to compete in the final day of events tomorrow.
"Big day for the program today as both Karina and Felicity advance to the final in the 800 and score some big points there. In the steeple we went in with the top three times in the conference. Unfortunately, during the race Calli caught a toe and went down at the steeple as she was leading the race and was out with injury.
Morganne Browning stepped up big time and become the first conference champion in program history and
Mary Beth Bailey was close behind her as the runner-up in the steeplechase. We went one two in the event and Mandy snagged eighth place for another point for 19 total points in the steeplechase which was big for the team as we head into the final day tomorrow."
UP NEXT
The Golden Suns will compete in the final day of action at the GAC Outdoor Championships tomorrow in Shawnee. First up at 3:40 p.m. will be the 800m finals, then at 4:50 p.m. the team will compete in the 5K race and will finally close out the day with the 4x400 relay which is scheduled to start at 5:50 p.m. tomorrow evening.
