SEARCY, Ark. - The Arkansas Tech women's track & field team wraps up their final day at the 2023 GAC Outdoor Track & Field Champions claiming more All-GAC honors across multiple events on the day. Overall for the meet, the Golden Suns place fourth overall out of the ten competing GAC teams at the conference championship.
FINAL RESULTS
Starting off the day for the Golden Suns was
Dallice White in both the shot put and discus events. White finished the shot put with a top-ten finish with a best mark of 11.37m. For the discus event, White put together a new PR for the event with a best throw of 35.40m.
Moving to the distance events for the day, the Golden Suns began with the 1500m race that saw
Audrey Hill,
Morganne Browning,
Calli Beshore,
Felicity West,
Avery Stanley and
Sophey Pope gear up for the event.
Crossing the finish line first for Tech and earning a spot on the All-GAC First Team for the 1500 was Hill with a 4:47.29 time and a fourth place overall finish. Hill's finishing time also sets a new PR for the freshman in the 1500m race. Behind Hill was Browning who clocked in with a 4:49.25 total time and the sixth place overall placement, which earned her a place on the All-GAC Second Team for the event.
Beshore was the next member of the Golden Suns to finish with a 4:51.40 overall time. West and Stanley were next with 4:59.93 and 5:00.10 overall race times, respectively. Closing out the group in the 1500m race for Arkansas Tech was Pope who clocked in with a 5:23.11 total time.
Following the 1500m race was the finals of the 800 where Hill laced up to compete after recording a qualifying time in the preliminary round of the event yesterday. Hill finished with a 2:22.91 overall time which earned her a spot on the All-GAC Second Team for the 800.
The 5000m race was the next event the Golden Suns took on as
Marcie Cudworth,
Ashlynn Mays,
Mackenzie Hendrix,
Mackenzie Epperson, Browning,
Libby Booth, Beshore and Pope were slotted in to compete for the green & gold.
Cudworth was the first member of the Golden Suns to cross the finish with an 18:21.73 overall time and the runner-up finish were earned here a place on the All-GAC First team for the event. Following behind Cudworth was Mays with an 18:39.31 time and the third place overall finish and Hendrix in fourth with an 18:44.42 race time. Both also earned a place alongside Cudworth on the All-GAC First Team for the event as the Golden Suns took three of the four total spots on the first team list.
Epperson followed the leading trio with an 18:49.16 race time and the sixth place overall finish, which placed her on the All-GAC Second Team for the 5000m race. Browning was next with a 19:07.15 total time. Following Browning was Booth and Beshore with 19:28.52 and 19:50.96 overall times, respectively.
Rounding out the group competing in the 5000m race for the Golden Suns was Pope who clocked in with a 21:25.61 race time.
The Golden Suns closed out the 2023 GAC Championships with the 4x400m relay that consisted of the relay team of West, Stanley, Browning and Hill representing Tech in the event. The relay team finished with a 4:13.32 overall time for the event.
Head coach of the Golden Suns,
Brock Hime, was proud of his teams determination and effort in every event they competed in this weekend.
"This was a great championship meet for our team. The ladies stayed focused throughout and performed really well when it mattered. Placing 4th overall with distance events is tough to do but this group was determined, they simply dominated the distance events. Fight on!"
