Final Results 

MOBILE, Ala. - The University of South Alabama track and field teams recorded eight victories and honored their senior class as the Jags' final home meet of the season, the South Alabama Invitational, closed on Saturday at the Jaguar Track. 

"We had some really good performances this weekend," head coach Paul Brueske said. "We competed against some quality teams and had a solid meet. This meet was a positive for us moving forward into the rest of the outdoor season." 

The Jaguars honored 16 seniors who competed in their final home outdoor meet on Saturday. Three of the seniors recognized - Kaitlyn Beans, Zach Blahnik and Lezyon Legarde - notched victories in their events. 

Beans recorded a 12.96-meter jump in the women's triple jump to earn first in the event, her best jump this season. The senior also placed third in the women's long jump with a personal-best 5.91-meter jump.

Blahnik earned a victory in the men's hammer throw with a 60.31-meter toss. The Green Bay, Wisc., native also placed sixth in the men's shot put (15.22m) and discus (49.64m), the latter a personal best. Lagarde notched his first-place finish with a 15.17-meter mark in the men's triple jump, along with a ninth-place finish in the men's long jump with a 6.84-meter jump. 

David Reinhardt took first place in the men's javelin - his first event since 2015. The senior's 60.04-meter mark was a personal best, a win within itself after Reinhardt came back from two shoulder surgeries since his last performance. 

"I'm really proud of him," Brueske said. "Coming back to throwing javelin from that isn't an easy thing to do. He worked really hard and his personal best really speaks to how hard he worked." 

Freshman Emilie Berge earned a victory in the women's heptathlon with a 5,258 overall score to rank fourth on the Jaguars all-time outdoor list. Berge earned more than 800 points in three events: the 100-meter hurdles, the high jump and the 200-meter dash. 

Sophomores Taylor Dames and Michaela Preachuk earned victories in the women's high jump and women's hammer, respectively. Dames cleared a height of 1.69 meters to place first, while Preachuk 57.58-meter throw earned the Lakeville, Minn., native a first place finish in the event. 

Meagan James was the final Jaguar to earn a victory at the Jaguar's home meet. The junior cleared a personal-record of 4.00m to pace four other Jaguars in the event. 

In the men's field events, seven Jaguars recorded top-10 finishes. Andrew Allen earned two top-three marks in the men's javelin (59.16m) and hammer (55.56m), placing second and third respectively. Thomas Boyd had a personal-best performance in the men's shot put with a 16.26-meter mark to place fourth and earned fifth in the hammer with a 53.96-meter mark.

Matt Weinhold rounded off the Jaguars' throwing performances placing third in the men's discus with a personal-best throw of 51.96m and fifth in the men's shot put (16.08m).

On the track for the men, four Jaguar individuals placed in the top 10 of their events. Alex Elam crossed the line of the men's 100m at a personal-best time of 10.53 to place third in the event.  The other three top finishes came in the men's hurdle events

Arius Gilstrap (53.86) placed second in the 400-meter hurdles. Jacob Johnson placed fifth in the event with a 55.86-second time, and he placed ninth in the men's 110-meter hurdle with a time of 15.18 seconds.

On the women's side in the field events, senior Barbara Riviera placed second in the women's javelin with a 41.89-meter mark, leading three other Jaguars. Jessica Matthews placed directly behind Rivera with a mark of 41.78m. Liz Bolden (40.12m) and Caitlyn Dressler (39.33m) placed fifth and seventh in the event, respectively. 

In the women's jumps, three other Jaguars placed behind James in the top 10 of the women's pole vault. Dressler placed second clearing 3.80m, Ireland Armstrong placed fifth clearing 3.65m and Savannah Howie rounded out the Jaguars clearing 3.50m for 10th. Elysa Griffin placed fifth in the women's long jump, two places behind Beans, clearing 5.86m. Freshman Sheldonna Chappell followed behind Griffin in sixth, clearing a height of 5.75m. 

Preachuck led four Jaguars in the women's hammer throw, and senior LaMia Miller came in second with a 52.16-meter mark. Her mark earned her one of two top-three finishes she had over the weekend, the other placing third in the women's shot put. Autavia Fluker threw a personal-best 52.16m in the hammer to place third and placed fourth in the women's shot put.

Meagan Hall also earned a top-five finish in the hammer, placing fifth with a 50.41-meter mark while Jessie Droogsma just missed a top-10 finish with a 44.80-meter throw. Droogsma went on to place sixth in the women's discus with a 44.25, one place behind senior Katy Cihlar, who earned fifth with a 44.34-meter throw. 

On the track for the women, South Alabama had six events where Jaguar individuals placed in the top 10. Taylor Young recorded a personal-best 14.51-second time in the women's 100-meter hurdles to place sixth. Preachuk and Dames placed eighth and ninth, respectively, finishing one hundredth of a millisecond apart.  Senior Marina Swanepoel earned a top-five finish in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.14. 

In the women's distance events, seniors Ivy Chastain and Nicole Durham placed third and fifth respectively in the women's 3,000m. Sophomore Kailee Kiminski placed 10th in the women's 1,500m, crossing the line at a 4:52.91. In sprints, Griffin placed seventh in the women's 100m (11.95) and ninth in the women's 200m (24.60). 
 
Three Jaguar individuals traveled to Torrance, Ca. for the Mt. SAC Relays this weekend. Senior Joanna McCoy placed 24th in the women's 5,000m while Laura Labuschaigne placed 12th in the women's 1,500m with a time of 4:31.88.  Ashley Heitling did not finish in her event. 

South Alabama will return to action April 21 at the War Eagle Invitational in Auburn, Ala. 

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with USAJaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at Twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Finish Line Club, the track and field and cross country specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  All donations to the Finish Line Club go directly to support the South Alabama track and field/cross country programs.  For more information on how you can join visit: jaguarathleticfund.com/finishlineclub

 —USA—