JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Records are meant to be broken. And
Savannah Chadic took that personally Saturday night.
At the Atlantic Sun Conference Championships, junior sprinter Chadic took to the track at UNF for the 400m dash and shattered not only the Jacksonville program record in the event but the overall ASUN record in the process. Chadic's time of 52.06 broke the previous ASUN record of 53.25 by more than a full second and broke the program record of 53.28. JU's record had stood since 2019, the ASUN record since 2023.
The explosive showing in the 400m dash highlighted an eventful three-days across town for the 'Phins, where Jacksonville totaled four individual medals and two relay medals. By the end of the Championship, Jacksonville finished in seventh place as a team with 64 points, led by the 14 points garnered in Chadic's record shattered sprint.
THURSDAY
Starting things off on Thursday, sprinter
Joy Whittington qualified third overall in the 400m hurdle preliminary race. Teammate
Mariandree Chacon also qualified third overall in her 200m dash prelim to set themselves up for finals competition later in the championship.
In the one and only iteration of the 10K, two Dolphins finished in
Jordan Dix and
Alexis Holmes. Both long-distance runners set personal bests during their time on the track, with Dix finishing in 10
th place and Holmes in 12
th. Dix posted a PR time of 37:29.95 while Holmes secured her PR behind a time of 39:00.19.
FRIDAY
The first event for the Dolphins on the second day of competition was the long jump. The program was paced by the ASUN Indoor Field Athlete of the Year,
Ma'Kala Davis, who earned an unofficial second-place finish behind a 5.91m leap.
Scoring officially for the 'Phins was
Sanaa Geter, who took home sixth and four team-points for her squad with a 5.79m leap. Last year's champion in the event,
Julia Sue-Kam-Ling, earned an eighth-place finish behind a distance of 5.70m.
Later in the day,
Eva Bellot earned 11
th place in the high jump to finish out her sophomore season in green and gold.
Unsurprisingly, Chadic was the pace setter in the 400m dash prelim via finishing first. In the 100m prelim, Chacon finished third with a time of 11.43. In the 100m hurdles prelim, Whittington was the second-fastest finisher. The senior ended her short-track sprint with a time of 13.81.
SATURDAY
On the final day of competition, things got ramped up in a big way for the 'Phins. The triple jump finals featured Geter, who secured fifth place behind a leap of 12.00m. But it was in the 4x100m relay where the Dolphins earned their first medals.
Jacksonville finished third overall in the first of two relay competitions, taking home the bronze with a time of 45.45. The relay team consisted of Chacon,
McKayla Francis, Chadic and
Kemaj Moore who ended just .40 seconds behind second-place Austin Peay.
The medals didn't stop there, as Whittington set a blazing pace in the 100m hurdles to snag second place and a silver medal for her growing trophy cabinet. After finishing in the silver spot last season, Whittington finished in the same pole position but shaved off almost a whole second from her previous years' time. Whittington's final time of 13.67 set a new personal best for the senior, breaking her silver-medal time of 14.29 set last season.
Following the 100m hurdles was where Chadic broke through the record books. Chadic was followed by a fifth-place finish by Chacon in the 100m dash with a time of 11.51. While the time didn't find Chacon on the podium, it did set a new Guatemalan national record in the event for the former Guatemalan Olympian as the country's top female time in the event.
In the 400m hurdles, Whittington set a new personal record with her time of 1:00.41, shaving over two whole seconds from her previous PR of 1:02.95. That time was good enough for the bronze medal, earning Whittington her second medal of the day which was the best among all JU individual medalists.
The 200m dash featured a stellar, medal-worthy performance for Chacon who took home silver after a blazing fast time of 23.44. That time set a new PR for Chacon and helped earn her a medal in the event after finishing in fourth in the 200 last season.
Jacksonville's final long distance event, the 5K, preceded the 4x400 relay to end competition under the stars at UNF.
Madeline Weiler (22
nd, 18:22.85),
Jordan Dix (23
rd, 18:24.75) and
Alexis Holmes (24
th, 18:38.42) finished in order in the 5,000 meter haul. Seniors Weiler and Dix competed alongside one another in their final ASUN Championship.
The overall final event of the Championship for JU was the famed 4x400 relay, an event JU still holds a seven-year standing record in. Jacksonville took home the silver medal in the 4x4 after a time of 3:39.21. The Dolphins finished about a second-and-a-half behind Austin Peay once more for gold with a team of Whittington, Francis, Chadic and Moore.
LOOKING AHEAD
Next up for select Dolphins is the NCAA Regional, hosted at the University of Kentucky.
Samaryah White (long jump), Chadic (400m), Davis (triple jump) and Sue-Kam-Ling (long jump) are all in line to potentially qualify in their respective spots to will represent Jacksonville and the Atlantic Sun on the national stage. The NCAA East Regional competition will be hosted in Lexington from May 28-May 30.
COACH'S COMMENTS
"I am so unbelievably proud of this team," first-year head coach Diego Vela said. "They competed hard every second and left it all out on the track. I am proud of all the girls that get to keep competing and for all the girls that left it all out there these past few days. Thank you to everyone who supported us and to all the friends, family, athletes and staff that came and cheered us on. Congratulations and thank you to all our senior athletes. This was a special year for JU track and field and I cannot wait to keep going."
