Hamilton Captures Second SoCon Long Jump Title
4/23/2011 5:02:00 AM
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -Shaunta Hamilton (Macon, Ga.) won her second Southern Conference Long Jump title on the first day of competition at Samford's Track and Soccer Stadium. The senior won the Long Jump with a 19'-8" distance and paced the Eagles with 10 of their 16 points earned in that event. Hamilton also won the SoCon Long Jump crown in 2008. Georgia Southern posted 26 personal best performances in the first day's events and totaled 19 points for fifth place at the 25th annual Southern Conference Championships.
Sophomore Sara Curry (Lawrenceville, Ga.), who already owns the indoor and outdoor records for the 5,000 meter Run, laid claim to the University's 10,000 meter outdoor record. Curry posted a 38:34.83 for the best time in Georgia Southern history, taking more than 80 seconds off the previous mark set in 2005.
The championships continue Saturday with the three remaining Heptathlon events beginning the day's competition at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time.
In addition to Hamilton's victory in the Long Jump, freshman Stephanie Hicks (Trenton, N.J.) placed fifth (18'-1.5") and junior Millicent Brooks-Millender (Douglasville, Ga.) seventh (17'-6.75") for Georgia Southern's domination in the event.
In the preliminaries of the 100 meter Hurdles, freshman Kwajelin Holsendolph (Hinesville, Ga.) ran a personal-best and Georgia Southern season-best time of 14.05 to qualify for the finals. Hicks ran her personal-best time in the event with a 14.08 in the preliminaries and sophomore Jasmine Billings (Lawrenceville, Ga.) narrowly missed her personal best with a 14.09. Holsendolph and Billings solidified their spots in the Georgia Southern history book with performances in the preliminaries that ranked in the top five. All three women have the opportunity to score points for the Eagles in the finals of the event Saturday.
All four Eagles in the 100 meter Dash preliminaries posted personal-best times as Ebony Carter (Rome, Ga.), Holsendolph and Billings will race Saturday in the finals. Carter ran a 11.89 time, a Georgia Southern season-best and personal-best time for Carter. Holsendolph took .01 seconds off her previous best time while Billings, in only her second 100 meter Dash this year, advances to the finals with a 12.11 time.
Taking .74 seconds off her previous best time in the 800 meter Run, freshman Asea Mayfield (Marietta, Ga.) ran a 2:17.17 in the preliminaries for the third-best time in Georgia Southern history in this event. Ashley Roe (Campbell, Calif.) also recorded a personal best, shaving two seconds off her previous personal best.
Junior Racquel Daly (Decatur, Ga.) moves to the finals in the 400 meter Dash with a personal-best and season-best time of 56.86. Kristiana Towns (Decatur, Ga.) missed the final cut by .62 seconds in the event. Freshman Deanna Edwards (Athens, Ga.) had her best time of the year in the preliminaries. With a 64.24 time in the 400 meter Hurdles, Ray Toomer (Savannah, Ga.) qualified for Saturday's finals. Only one time in this event was better for Toomer this season, recorded at the Seminole Invitational two weeks ago.
In the Heptathlon, Hicks took second-place finishes in two of the first four events contested on Friday. Hicks stands in second place with 2,955 points with three events remaining on Saturday. Hicks, second in the 100m Hurdles and Shot Put, posted a sixth-place finish in the High Jump and was seventh in the 200m Dash. Hamilton (Macon, Ga.), who won the event last year, tied for first place in the Heptathlon High Jump and currently stands in fifth.
Junior Azura Robillard, who had completed the first four events of the Heptathlon earlier, threw a distance of 117'-1" in the Javelin to score the Eagles' first points of the meet. The Altamonte Springs, Fla., native recorded her personal best, and the Georgia Southern season best, on her second throw. Charnelle Wray (Jamaica, N.Y.) added another point to the Eagles' total with a 134'-8" throw in the Hammer for eighth place. The mark was Wray's best of the year.
Follow the Georgia Southern Track and Field team by visiting GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/track&fields. Short updates will be available at twitter.com/GSAthletics and at facebook.com/GSAthletics. As results become available during the day, they will be posted on twitter.com/GSScores.
