JMU track and field competed in the Sun Belt Outdoor Championships from May 11-13 and finished ninth of 13 teams with 39 points.
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On the first day of the meet, JMU finished sixth out of 13 teams. Three Dukes earned points on the first day of competition, starting with senior Shelby Staib placing second in the javelin with her toss of 47.10m. While Staib earned eight team points, senior Rachel Lloyd grabbed another with her height of 3.76m in the pole vault. Junior Miranda Stanhope placed third in the 10,000m with her time of 34:53.
Seniors Erin Babashak and Bethany Biggi both earned new personal records in the 100m hurdles and high jump, respectively, while sophomore Sofia Lavreshina earned a ticket to the 400m hurdles finals with her second place time of 1:01.Just one runner scored for the Dukes on Friday. Senior Maddy Hesler placed fifth in the 3000m steeplechase, finishing in 10:57. Biggi and Babashak finished their last event of their college careers, placing 12th and 14th in the heptathlon. Seniors Sinead Sargent (2:16) and Annie Dunlop (2:19) both earned personal best outdoor times in the 800m. After day two, the Dukes had dropped to eighth place. The final day saw 20 points earned by the Dukes, highlighted by the 4x100m relay team of Lavreshina, freshman Kadence Wilson,sophomores Virginia Keys and Holly Mpassy who earned the fourth fastest time in school history with 3:42. Rounding out the track events was Lavreshina earning four points in the 400m hurdles placing fifth, and Stanhope placing sixth in the 5000m race. Stanhope earned a total of nine points during the weekend.
Junior Jordan Venning earned an outdoor personal best in the triple jump, placing seventh with her distance of 12.29m. Sophomores Jaiden Martellucci and Ryann Bennett just missed qualification for the finals of the discus throw, both throwing 41.33m. Freshman Gracen King earned an outdoor personal record of 1.60m in the high jump.
The top three were Arkansas State with 144 points, Texas State with 107 points and South Alabama with 97 points. The Dukes compete next in the NCAA East Preliminary Round in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 24-27.
