Birmingham, Ala. – The Georgia Southern track and field team competed in its final indoor regular season meet at the Samford Invite Friday highlighted by another record-breaking performance by
Merabu Nagwandala.
The Kampala, Uganda, native once again broke her own Georgia Southern 3000m record with a time of 9:54.96 in a third place effort. She previously broke the school record this season at the Gamecock Opener on Jan. 18 with a 10:07.77.
Sprints:
Scovia Ayikoru led all 60m dash participants in the preliminary round with a personal-best 7.58 but did not run in the finals.
Aris Hubbard (5th, 7.71),
Zykeria Williams (7th, 7.82) and
Izlyn Zaini (21st, 7.91) also advanced to the next round. Hubbard would go on to place fifth in the finals with a time of 7.73. Ayikoru also ran in the 200m with an eighth place finish out of 60 runners.
Middle/Hurdles:
Zykeria Williams (7.81) and
Izlyn Zaini (9.00) both advanced past the 60m hurdles prelims finishing seventh and 14
th respectively. Williams then finished sixth in the finals with an 8.76.
Distance:
Nagwandala's placed third out of 28 in her record performance in the 3000m and will also run the 5000m Saturday along with two other Eagles.
Jumps:
Meagan Lynch placed 24
th in the long jump with a leap 17-1 ½.
Throws:
Siddeeqa Abdurrahman improved her weight throw PR by a solid margin finishing 14
th with a toss of 49-6 ½.
What head coach Kelly Carter had to say:
"We had the fortune of going to Birmingham this weekend so we could get a good feel of the venue for conference in a couple of weeks. We had some great performances and came away more prepared. Our freshman throwers set PRs and our sprint crew made steady strides forward. Our team has put themselves in good positions heading into the SBC Championship."
Full results can be found
here.
Up Next:
The team will travel back to Birmingham for the Sun Belt Conference Championship Meet Feb. 24-25 also at the Birmingham Crossplex. Those who qualify will then compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships March 13 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The outdoor season will also begin for the Eagles on March 13 as they host the GATA Classic.
