GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville track and field season has officially begun, with the team competing at their first indoor meet of the year at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational.
The meet marked
the beginning of the Diego Vela era as head coach, as the longtime assistant was named head coach this summer.
Vela and assistant coach Jordon Garman's squad competed in a number of events from field, short and long distance starting with long jump Friday morning.
Ma'Kala Davis kicked things off with a sixth-place finish in the long jump. Davis was held out for a large part of last season due to injury but hit her stride early, notching a 5.84m jump. Davis led the JU contingency with
Sanaa Geter placing 22
nd (5.41m),
Julia Sue-Kam-Ling in 25
th (5.25m), freshman
Samaryah White in 32nd (5.17m) and
Kailyn Murphy in 37
th (4.79).
In the high jump, sophomore
Eva Bellot took home a 15
th place finish with a 1.55m leap.
Competing in the mile run, freshman
Isabel DeVos continued her stellar first college season with a 22
nd place finish and a time of 5:16.08.
Jordan Dix,
Madeline Weiler and
Alexis Holmes placed 26
th, 27
th and 28
th respectively.
Taking on the 400m dash,
Savannah Chadic posted a blazing fast time of 55.85 and secured fourth place overall.
Kemaj Moore took home 10
th with a time of 57.65.
Josephine Leonard paced the JU contingency in the 800 with a time of 2:25.18.
Annah Priyadi (2:25.36) and
Eryn Field (2:25.56) finished just behind her in 14
th and 15
th place respectively.
Guatemalan Olympian
Mariandree Chacon took home 8
th place in the 200m dash with a time of 24.47, just .02 seconds behind the seventh-place finisher.
Rounding out the day was the ever exciting 4x400m relay, with Jacksonville's team taking home seventh place. The squad posted a time of 3:49.97 to secure seventh place overall.
COACH'S COMMENTS
"It was great to open our indoor season in Gainesville against the best teams from Florida, and professional athletes," Vela said of his first meet as a head coach. "They did their best today, and we are so proud of the team. We had some really good performances that are going to lead their events in the ASUN conference rankings. Now, it's time to go back to practice to keep the momentum going."
NEXT UP
Jacksonville travels back to Gainesville Jan. 23-24 for the RADD Sports College Invitational. The meet will be held at the Alachua County Sports Complex and streamed on FloTrack.
