AUBURN, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men's and women's track and field teams competed this weekend at Auburn's War Eagle Invitational, with multiple student-athletes finishing in the top five in their events.
"Everybody competed well this weekend," said assistant track and field coach David Barnett. "We saw what we needed to see getting ready for [the Sun Belt] conference [championships]."
Marina Swanepoel won the women's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.00, more than a second ahead of the second-place runner, and just behind her own personal best of 1:01.77.
Philip Friedlander placed second in the men's 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:14.44, just four seconds behind the leader, with Zach Blahnik also placing second in the men's hammer throw with a distance of 58.59m and LaMia Miller coming in second in the women's shot put with a 14.42m mark.
Jasmine Ferguson finished third in the women's high jump with a height of 1.60m, and Morgan Jones placed third in the women's hammer throw with 48.66m distance. Miller was fourth in the latter event with a distance of 48.50m, and Megan Hall earned sixth place with a 47.71m throw.
Justin Housley crossed the line third in the seeded men's 1,500 meters with a time of 3:54.40, and in the men's 400-meter dash Mark Watts (47.52) and Michael Smith (48.11) earned third and fourth places, respectively. Spencer Anderson competed in the men's 400-meter hurdles and earned third place with a career-best time of 52.12, with teammate Tevin Barnett coming in seventh with a time of 54.91.
Joanna McCoy (17:40.34), Ashley Heitling (17:42.35) and Ivy Chastain (18:01.78) competed in the women's 5,000-meter run, earning third, fourth, and fifth places, respectively.
Kriszti Szabo came in fourth place in the women's long jump with a distance of 5.58m, and in the women's javelin Barbara Rivera placed fourth with a throw of 41.22m while Jessica Matthews earned sixth place with a distance of 37.29m.
The men's 4x400-meter relay team placed fourth as well with a time of 42.58 seconds, just over two seconds behind the race winner.
In the men's 110-meter hurdles finals, Matthew Dillon placed fifth with a time of 14.57 seconds while Laura Labuschaigne earned fifth place in the women's 800-meter run with a time of 2:14.58; teammate Alivia Bryars placed seventh with 2:14.71 clocking.
In the men's pole vault, Nick Farrell (4.95m) and Neil Gilomee (4.80) placed fifth and sixth, respectively, and a trio of Jags — Ireland Armstrong (3.70m), Jordan Friz (3.55m), and Kayla Carlile (3.55m) — came in seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.
Daniel Fort competed for the men in the javelin and was just outside the top five with a throw of 53.72m, with Berta Lucas placing sixth in the women's 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.03 seconds.
"A bunch of athletes moved up in the conference rankings, and I think that's just what we need going into the league championships," commented Barnett.
The Jaguars will wrap up the regular season at Southern Mississippi's Golden Eagle Classic on Friday and Saturday.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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