By: by Scott Lipsky
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - For the second straight week and third consecutive meet, fans of Kennesaw State Owls women’s track and field will have to re-familiarize themselves with the team’s record book, as six more marks were shattered at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational, at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.
Freshman jumps specialist Michelle Quimby continued to make her presence felt amongst the competition, breaking the school record in the Pole Vault which she had originally set on December 5 in her collegiate debut. Her vault of 11’6.5” placed her fourth in the event on Sunday and cleared her initial record-setting mark of 11’5.75”.
Following the trend of re-writing the field portion of the record books, junior Jill Arthur and senior Chiquita Hawthorne used their veteran know-how to set some Owl records of their own. Arthur’s 40’7.5” leap in the Triple Jump far surpassed the standing school mark of 39’9”, which she herself had set in a meet at Clemson last February. Hawthorne followed suit with her two underclassmen, replacing her Shot Put record of 41’8.5” that she had set last week at East Tennessee State with a toss of 42’5.25”.
Sophomore transfer Christie Leverette was the fourth member of the Black and Gold to find her way into the record books this weekend, as her Pentathalon score of 3269 broke Athur’s two-year old record tally of 2979.
Sophomore sprinter Victoria Jackson continued to solidify her place in Owls running lore, setting the 200 Meter Dash record on a 200 meter track with a time of 25.56 seconds. Jackson had set the record for the 200 Meter Dash on a track longer than 200 meters last week at the Niswonger Invitational, when she broke Shantela Davis' mark on East Tennessee State's 280 meter track. Her time this weekend bested Davis' standard of 25.84 seconds that she had set at Clemson in December of 2006.
Setting school records is nothing new to the Owls this season. They came back from the Niswonger Invitational in Johnson City, Tenn., last week with three new standards, and had set four in their first outing of the season at the Appalachian State Invitational.
The meet, which pitted the Owls against Atlantic Sun Conference rivals North Florida and Jacksonville, as well as several other programs in the South, saw the Owls find immense overall success against their competition and not just their history, as they won two events and posted 13 top-five finishes in the events they competed in. Head coach Don McGarey was very pleased with the performances he got out of his athletes.
“Coming off of a seven-week break before our last meet, we were still shaking off the rust [at the Niswonger Invitational],” said McGarey. “It seems like we really started to put some things together this week, and the improvement in our overall performance is visible. I think having some conference rivals in this meet helped, as well, because it gave our student-athletes extra incentive to do as well as we could.”
The Owls have one more meet prior to the A-Sun Championships at East Tennessee State on February 26-27. They travel to Chapel Hill, N.C. to compete in the UNC Invitational on February 12 as a final tune-up.
JIMMY CARNES INVITATIONAL- OFFICIAL RESULTS
High Jump
2. Jakia Ragland- 1.65m (5’5”)
3. Suzzette Van-Lare- 1.60m (5’3”)
4. Christie Leverette- 1.60m (5’3”)
8. Michelle Quimby- 1.55m (5’1”)
Pole Vault
4. Michelle Quimby- 3.52m (11’6.5”)***
15. Teresa Smith- 3.02m (9’10.75”)
15. Kacey Hightower- 3.02m (9’10.75”)
Long Jump
2. Jill Arthur- 5.73m (18’9.75”)
Triple Jump
2. Jill Arthur- 12.38m (40’7.50”)***
3. Suzzette Van-Lare- 12.10m (39’8.50”)
Shot Put
3. Chiquita Hawthorne- 12.93m (42’5.25”)***
7. Suzee Mills- 12.32m (40’5”)
Weight Throw
1. Chiquita Hawthorne- 16.13m (52’11”)
5. Suzee Mills- 14.40m (47’3”)
55 Meter Dash
11. Cynthia Davis- 7.26 seconds
14. Victoria Jackson- 7.28 seconds
16. Naquia Williams- 7.35 seconds
19. LaKeshia Stinson- 7.50 seconds
55 Meter Hurdles
11. LaKeshia Stinson- 8.83 seconds
12. Naomi Mack- 8.86 seconds
14. Naquia Williams- 9.03 seconds
200 Meter Dash
8. Victoria Jackson- 25.56 seconds***
9. Cynthia Davis- 25.57 seconds
16. DeCoshia Boswell- 26.20 seconds
400 Meter Dash
12. DeCoshia Boswell- 59.95 seconds
18. Shelby Hines- 1:02.06
One Mile Run
8. Erin Sutton- 5:12.47
13. Caitlin German- 5:21.41
4x400 Meter Relay
3. Kennesaw State ‘A’- 3:58.56***
1-LaKeshia Stinson, 2-Victoria Jackson, 3-Shelby Hines, 4-Decoshia Boswell
Distance Medley
1. Kennesaw State ‘A’- 12:44.48
Pentathalon
2. Christie Leverette- 3269 points***
55 Meter Hurdles- 8.81 seconds-6th- 837
High Jump- 1.67m (5’5.75”)- 2nd- 818
Shot Put- 11.36m (37’3.25”)-2nd- 619
Long Jump-4.73m (15’6.25”)-9th- 487
800 Meter Run- 2:45.78-8th-508
7. Naomi Mack- 2915 points
55 Meter Hurdles- 9.09 seconds- 7th- 774
High Jump- 1.49m (4’10.5”)- 6th- 610
Shot Put- 10.08m (33’1”)-3rd-535
Long Jump-4.71m (15’5.5”)-10th-482
800 Meter Run- 2:45.25- 7th-514
***School Record
