University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
App State Indoor Open
Upstate Wins Seven Events, Sets One School Record at App State Indoor Open
2/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Boone, N.C. – In its final meet before the A-Sun Indoor Track & Field Championships next weekend, the USC Upstate track and field team turned in an impressive overall performance on Friday as it won seven events, while breaking one school record, during the App State Indoor Open.
Along with the seven victories and one school record, Upstate saw a total of 16 personal-bests fall during the one-day meet. The Spartan men led the way with nine personal-best marks while the women finished with seven. Kyle Jones and Semaj Tolliver both recorded two personal-bests on Friday; with Jones in the 55- and 400-meter dashes, and Tolliver the 55- and 200-meter dashes.
The Upstate women took home a total of six victories (five individual, one team) while the men collected one team win.
KeAndrea Ladson broke her own school record during the preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles after finishing 1st with a personal-best qualifying time of 8.37. She previously held the record time of 8.52 set at last year's Appalachian Open. Ladson would follow that performance by winning the 55-meter hurdles finals after her time of 8.41. The Hinesville, Ga. native was one of four Spartans to qualify for the 55-meter hurdles finals as Brittany Walls placed 2nd, Destine Sykes 3rd and Kennedy Holton 4th.
The women's 55-meter dash played out in similar fashion with Upstate occupying four of the eight final spots and Brenicke Johnson crossing the finish line in 1st place after a time of 7.30. Tolliver had the top time during the preliminary race and would finish 2nd in the finals. Dominique Nock and Draneisha Griffin were 3rd and 4th, respectively.
Molly Bliss followed by winning the women's mile run as she turned in a time of 5:22.73. Ashleigh Torres won the women's 800-meter run after a time of 2:24.24 and Tolliver continued her solid day with a 1st place showing in the 200-meter dash as she ran a 25.38.
The women's 4x400-meter relay team of Griffin, Sierra White, Courtney Bradley and Heaven Briggs logged a time of 4:09.35 to finish in 1st place by just over six seconds.
Walls (high jump), Nock (200-meter dash) and Rebecca Elliott (800-meter run) all completed their events in 2nd place. Walls had a leap of 1.60-meters in the high jump, while Nock ran a time of 26.84 in the 200-meter dash and Elliott a 2:31.20 in the 800-meter run.
On the men's side, the 4x400-meter relay combination of Jones, Patrick Jamison, Cameron Pratt and Jake McKown held off their teammates (Joey Daversa, Ethan Dopp, Calin Schumacher and Josh Lee) to win their race with a time of 3:31.73.
Jones, Kyle Drollette and Ronald Collins, Jr. got things started for the Spartan men as all three qualified for the finals of the 55-meter hurdles. Drollette was the top finisher after placing 2nd with Collins, Jr. and Jones right behind him in 3rd and 4th places. Jamison and Jaleel Williams also earned a spot in the finals of the 55-meter dash. Jamison had a 2nd place finish and Williams was 4th.
Mark Rennix tied Drollette and Jamison for the top men's individual performance after running a personal-best time of 9:17.86 in the 3000-meter run to finish in 2nd place.
The 2015 A-Sun Indoor Track & Field Championships will be held next weekend (Feb. 28-Mar. 1) at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C.
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