University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
NCAA Indoor Championships
Ladson Breaks Own School Record on Final Day of CCU Invitational
3/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Myrtle Beach, S.C. – KeAndrea Ladson surpassed her own school record and the USC Upstate track and field team tallied 13 top-10 finishes on Saturday to conclude competition at the CCU Invitational from Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium.
Ladson previously set the 100-meter hurdles school record last season at the Charlotte Invitational, but would eclipse it by .13 seconds on Saturday. She would finish sixth in the seeded race with a personal-best time of 14.92.
Essence Jackson turned in the top individual performance for Upstate after placing second in the 800-meter run seeded. Jackson posted a time of 2:16.73 and finished four seconds behind Julie Oosterhouse of Cornerstone for the top spot in the race. She tied Jasmine Polite for the best finish on the weekend as Polite was second in the 10,000-meter run Friday evening.
Ladson and Jackson were two of eight Spartan women to record a finish of 10th or better during the final day. Destinie Sykes and Meagan Bailey both had the second-best performances for the squad in their respective events. Sykes finished fourth in the triple jump following her leap of 11.00-meters and Bailey also placed fourth with a mark of 1.50-meters in the high jump.
Brittany Walls compiled a top-five performance after finishing fifth in the high jump seeded with a jump of 1.55-meters. She later recorded a personal-best time in the 400-meter dash seeded of 1:01.15.
Alexis Jacobs added a fifth-place finish in the shot put after her throw of 12.96-meters. Molly Bliss tallied a time of 11:15.91 in the 3000-meter run, good enough for a seventh-place showing.
The Upstate women had two of its top-10 finishes in the 800-meter run seeded with Jackson and Ashleigh Torres. Along with the second-place finish by Jackson, Torres placed eighth after running a time of 2:22.24.
In the 4x400-meter relay, Jackson teamed up with Sierra White, Heaven Briggs and Courtney Bradley to finish in sixth place. The quartet combined for a time of 4:05.06 in the event.
Kyle Drollette and Griffin Eubanks led the Spartan men on Saturday as both had 10th place performances. Drollette started the day by compiling a time of 56.48 to finish 10th in the 400-meter hurdles seeded, and Eubanks had a time of 4:04.95 during the 1500-meter run seeded to also finish in 10th place.
The Upstate men had two relay teams post top-10 finishes in the 4x100- and 4x400-meter races. In the 4x100-meter relay, the combination of Jake McKown, Kyle Jones, Jaleel Williams and Patrick Jamison ran to a seventh-place finish following their time of 43.16. Drollette would join Jones, Jamison and McKown for the 4x400-meter relay and contribute a ninth-place finish after a time of 3:24.69.
The Spartans head to Charlotte, N.C. next week for the 49er Classic (Mar. 19-21) hosted by UNC Charlotte.
Follow Upstate track and field on your mobile device, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
