OXFORD, Miss. (3/25/17) – The Arkansas State track and field teams competed at the Joe Walker Invite this weekend and came away with 21 top-five finishes in their second outdoor meet of the year.
“We had to deal with some weather issues this weekend, but we did a good job of competing,” A-State head coach Jim Patchell said. “Viktoriia (Sadokhina) had her best jump of the year and she should get to regionals with that mark. Tiaan (Steenkamp) also had a good opening meet and jumped a regional mark as well. Henirch (Herbst) had a great 1500 race and was only a second off the school record. Overall, we are pretty pleased with our progress thus far outdoors.”
Junior Calea Carr smashed her personal-best in the hammer throw to claim top honors in the event. Carr posted a throw of 55.02m (180-06.50) for the second-best throw in program history. Senior Viktoriia Sadokhina took top honors in the triple jump with a leap of 12.71m (41-08.50), the third-best jump in program history.
Freshman Heinrich Herbst placed second in the 1,500-meter run, clocking a time of 3:49.97. That time ranks as the fifth-fastest in program history. Herbst also finished in the top-five of the 800-meter run with a fourth-place time of 1:52.36. A-State saw two athletes finish top three of the high jump with Tiaan Steenkamp placing second (2.11m/6-11.00) and Chase Riley third (2.06m/6-09.00).
Freshman Nick Hilson placed second overall, tops among collegiate athletes, with a time of 52.79 in the 400-meter hurdles. That time ranks as the eighth-fastest in program history. Junior Trevene Cowan also had a top-three finish in the 400-meter hurdles, placing third with a time of 1:03.33.
Senior Chris Collins picked up a second place finish with a javelin throw of 53.90m (176-10.25). Michael Carr also had a second place finish, clearing 4.95m (16-02.75) in the pole vault. Coming off a record-breaking performance, Cristian Ravar Ladislau finished third in the hammer throw competition with a throw of 61.80m (202-09.25).
Freshmen Brianna Hardiman clocked a 55.89 in the 400-meter dash to place second. That time ranks as the eighth-fastest in program history. Junior De'Airis Weakley clocked a 12.14 in the 100-meter dash to finish third. In the men's 100-meter dash, Elijah Ross (10.63) and Chris Hill (10.80) finished second and third, respectively, but first and second among collegiate athletes in the race.
Senior Erin Farmer competed with some of the best competition in the world and placed fourth overall, second collegiately, with a throw of 16.57m (54-04.50). Freshman Hayden Hampton logged 6,135 points to place third in the decathlon. He was joined in the top 10 by Coleton Clifft (8th – 5647) and Dalton Romero (9th – 3998).
Also posting top-10 finishes were; Amari James in 110-meter hurdles (4th – 14.83), Calea Carr in discus throw (5th – 47.79m/156-09.75), Darragh May in 100-meter hurdles (5th – 14.46), Jamil Peeples in long jump (5th – 7.01m/23-00.00), Shemiah Brooks in long jump (5th – 5.65m/18-06.50), Chris Owen in 3,000-meter steeplechase (5th – 10:52.21), Hannah Dunderdale in javelin throw (6th – 33.27m/109-02.00), Rebecca Eldien in 3,000-meter steeplechase (6th – 11:28.29), Amari James in triple jump (7th – 13.71m/44-11.75), Calea Carr in shot put (8th – 13.60m/44-07.50), Sarah Michael in pole vault (8th – 3.55m/11-07.75), Erika Christian in 400-meter dash (9th – 56.92), David Phillips in triple jump (9th – 13.24m/43-05.25), Kristen Sink in javelin throw (9th – 31.47m/103-03.25), De'Airis Weakley in 200-meter dash (10th – 24.50)
A-State will send athletes to the Texas Relays (March 29 – April 1), Bobcat Invitational (March 30 – April 1) and the Joey Haynes Invitational (March 31 – April 1) this week.
