LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On the opening day of the ASUN Indoor Championship Track and Field meet, two Dolphins earned medals in the field to start Jacksonville as strong as ever to cap the indoor season.

Sophomore Ma'Kala Davis earned gold in the long jump, posting a season best jump of 5.94 meters. Davis is the first Dolphin since 2013 to be crowned an Indoor Long Jump champion.

Just behind Davis was Julia Sue-Kam-Ling, who represented JU in the NCAA Outdoor Championships last spring in the event, who jumped an indoor season best 5.88m which was good for second place. With two Dolphins dotting the podium, Sanna Geter finished just outside the top-3, earning fourth place with a leap of 5.80.

All three Dolphins used their last jumps of the evening on Friday to catapult themselves into the top of the leaderboards.

Sticking with the long jump, sophomore Kailyn Murphy earned herself a season best leap of 5.02 and 17^th place. The team's lone freshman, Samaryah White, earned 18^th place with a leap of 5.02 as well.

The long jump was the only field event that Jacksonville concluded on Friday, but did show well in two long distance categories.

Isabel DeVos led the 'Phins in the 5000m final, earning a PB with her time of 17:42.19 and ninth place overall. The freshman was joined by Lana Grelli in 12^th, with a time of 18:10.60 and Alexis Holmes in 13^th with a time of 18:31.00. Both Grelli and Holmes also earned PB times.

The long-distance runners earned a fifth place overall finish in the 4000m distance medley. The team was comprised of Jordan Dix, McKayla Francis, Josephine Leonard and Madeline Weiler 

Weiler herself set a PB in the mile run, running a time of 5:07.37 and earning a PB.

On the short track, Jacksonville set itself up well for the second and final day of competition on Saturday. 

Mariandree Chacon placed sixth in her preliminary run for the 60m dash, garnering a personal best time of 7.57. In the 60m hurdles, both Joy Whittington and Geter qualified for the second day with personal best times of 8.63 and 8.83 respectively.

Chacon paced the crowd in the 200m prelims, earning first place overall. She ran a PB time of 23.83. Savannah Chadic (third place, 24.11) and Kemaj Moore (seventh, 24.74) both earned personal bests and qualified for the second day.

Chadic and Moore both also qualified for the 400m finals, placing first and seventh respectively. The pair each set PBs, with Chadic running a time of 54.51 and Moore running a time of 55.99.

The track athletes who qualified for Saturday will race for gold inside Louisville's Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center. After one day of team scoring, Jacksonville sits in a tie for fourth alongside Lipscomb with 27 overall points. 

For more information regarding the ASUN Indoor Track and Field Championship, visit the ASUN Championship Central portal HERE.

COACH'S COMMENTS
"The team did really well,"  first-year head coach Diego Vela said. "We will have several Dolphins running finals tomorrow. Both hurdlers, Joy Whittington and Sanaa Geter ran their personal bests. Mariandree Chacon ran a personal best in the 60m and 200m. Savannah Chadic and Kemaj Moore ran personal bests and moved to the 200m and 400m finals. The long jump group did awesome. Ma'kala Davis won the event in the last jump, Julia Sue moved to second in her last jump, too. Sanaa Geter finished in 4th place in her last jump, as well. It was an electric final to watch. We finished the night scoring valued points in the DMR, closing an excellent day one for the team."