JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A fast and furious day of finals concluded a three-day ASUN Conference Championship meet for Jacksonville Track and Field. The team placed third with 143 points and pushed half of the roster to the NCAA East Preliminaries.
The day began with Coach Chip Brundage's throws group producing personal bests and major team points. Alyssia Richard improved upon her number three all-time rank at JU in the discus throw (49.74m) and won gold in the event. Alana Lecointe followed up with a fourth-place finish and moved into number five all-time at JU.
Coach Diego Vela once again had the jump group ready this weekend as Adja Sackor won gold in the triple jump for the third consecutive year while Sela Gur-Arie scored with an eighth-place finish.
Next up the runners began their work for the day. The 4x100m relay team of Alexis Williams, Chidinma Ogba, Cassie Thompson, and Alliann Johnson ran to a victory, fulfilling the strong season they have had throughout.
Chidinma Ogba proceeded to win the 400m dash emphatically, while Pashen Williams and Sadae Davidson followed in fourth and fifth place.
The 100m Dash included four Dolphins out of the nine total competitors. Alexis Williams earned All-Conference honors with her third-place finish in the 100m dash, followed by Cassie Thompson, Alliann Johnson, and Nicole Smith in fifth, sixth, and eighth, respectively. Each member amassed both personal bests and a total of fourteen team points.
Emma Sullivan and Anna Greentree broke the form charts by finishing second and fourth in a deep field of 800-meter runners.
The day concluded with the 4x400 team of Cassie Thompson, Emma Sullivan, Pashen Williams, and Sadae Davidson cruising to gold by 4.12 seconds.
In total, the Dolphins won five events, six additional all-conference performances, and thirteen conference-scoring performances. Seventeen of the eighteen athletes scored in the meet.
JU Results:
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Event
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Place, Dolphin – Time/Mark | Notes
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Discus Throw
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1st, Alyssia Richard – 49.74m | Personal Best | #3 All-Time JU
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4th, Alana Lecointe – 45.83m | Personal Best | #5 All-Time JU
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Triple Jump
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1st, Adja Sackor – 12.96m
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8th, Sela Gur-Arie – 11.10m
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400 Relay
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1st, A.Williams, Ogba, Thompson, Johnson – 44.59m
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400 Dash
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1st, Chidinma Ogba – 54.20
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4th, Pashen Williams – 55.02
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5th, Sadae Davidson – 55.17
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100 Dash
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3rd, Alexis Williams – 11.75
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5th, Cassie Thompson – 11.75
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6th, Alliann Johnson – 11.89
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8th, Nicole Smith – 11.96
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800 Run
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2nd, Emma Sullivan – 2:06.66
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4th, Anna Greentree – 2:11.76
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200 Dash
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3rd, Alexis Williams – 23.56
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4th, Chidinma Ogba – 23.77
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5th, Cassie Thompson – 23.89
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9th, Alliann Johnson – 24.68
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5000 Run
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10th, Madison Jones – 17:38.71
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1600 Relay
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1st, Thompson, Sullivan, P. Williams, Davidson – 3:38.20
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Quotable
Director of Track and Field Ron Grigg
"As coaches, we try to design the training and motivation to peak with the conference championship. The past three days I watched excellent performance after excellent performance. I am so proud of the individual and group efforts. The quality of the conference has improved from top the bottom and we have risen to the occasion."
The Dolphins will have more than half of their roster qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary round in two weeks, by far the largest group JU has ever taken.
Be sure to follow along via Twitter (@jax_xctf) and behind the scenes on Instagram (@jax_xctf) to stay up to date and view exciting content of the track and field team all season long.
