University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Charlotte Invitational
Ladson, Sykes Set School Records for Upstate on Final Day of Charlotte Invitational
4/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Charlotte, N.C. – KeAndrea Ladson and Destinie Sykes closed out the final day of competition for the USC Upstate track and field team at the Charlotte Invitational as both set new school records, while the Spartans won one relay race, on Saturday at the Irwin Belk Track & Field Center.
Ladson and Sykes both surpassed their own school records leading to a pair of top-five finishes. Ladson finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles after breaking her old school record, set earlier this year at the Winthrop Invitational, by .01 seconds as she ran a personal-best time of 14.62. Sykes passed her old school record time in the 400-meter hurdles by less than a second as she placed fourth with a personal-best time of 1:04.49.
The duo would finish the day with two top-10 performances apiece. Sykes added a fifth place finish in the triple jump and Ladson was 10th in the high jump.
For the second straight meet, an Upstate relay team finished first in the 4x100-meter relay race. The quartet of Semaj Tolliver, Dominique Nock, Heaven Briggs and Brenicke Johnson held off seven other relay teams, including second place Appalachian State by .58 seconds, to place first after crossing the finish line in a combined time of 46.37. Nock, Briggs and Johnson were also part of the 4x100-meter relay team that finished first two weeks ago at the Terrier Relays along with Courtney Bradley.
The Spartans totaled 17 top-10 individual performances led by second place showings from Tolliver and Alexis Jacobs. Tolliver led three runners inside the top-five of the 100-meter dash with a second place finish following a time of 12.27, while contributing a fourth place finish in the 200-meter dash with a personal-best time of 24.86. Jacobs turned in two finishes of sixth or better on the day as she was second in the shot put and sixth in the discus throw.
Johnson and Dominique Nock finished within three spots of each other in the 100-meter dash behind Tolliver. Johnson ended up third after finishing with a time of 12.31 and Nock placed fifth in 12.39.
Brittany Walls added a third place finish in the high jump after her leap of 1.63-meters. Walls also finished 10th in the 100-meter hurdles with Ladson after compiling a personal-best time of 15.06.
Essence Jackson and Ashleigh Torres teamed up to record two top-10 finishes in the 800-meter run. Jackson completed the race in 2:16.56 to place sixth and Torres was four spots behind in 10th with a 2:19.28.
In the women's triple jump, Draneisha Griffin finished eighth after setting a new personal-best leap of 10.96-meters.
Kennedy Holton ran to a 10th place finish in the 400-meter hurdles after completing the event with her time of 1:07.84.
A pair of Upstate men collected top-10 finishes on Saturday in Cameron Pratt and Jake McKown during the 400-meter hurdles. Pratt led the way in fifth place with a personal-best time of 55.61 while McKown was seventh after running a 55.98.
Overall, the Spartans finished the day with 13 personal-best performances as the women tallied eight and the men five.
Upstate makes the short trip down to Rock Hill, S.C. Wednesday afternoon for the Carolina's Cup hosted by Winthrop University.
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