BOONE, N.C. - The App State women's track & field team will open the indoor season with the John Weaver Invitational this Friday and Saturday in the Holmes Convocation Center. Friday's action is slated for a 5 p.m. start and will feature field events. Action will resume on Saturday with field events at 10 a.m. and track events at 11 a.m.
Twenty-two Mountaineers return from last season's squad, including pole vaulter
Ava Studney, middle-distance runner
Addison Ollendick-Smith, distance runner
Jasmine Donohue, thrower
Daiyanna Cooper, and sprinters
Jayla Adams,
Kendall Johnson, and
Nicole Wells.
Eighteen newcomers join the Black and Gold's ranks for the 2024-25 campaign. The women's incoming class includes junior hurdler
Corlasia Scott, freshman jumper
Jahaila Wright, and freshman pole vaulter
Abigail Goetz. The Mountaineers also added a quartet of freshman sprinters,
Ja'Naya Linder,
Zaniya Littlejohn,
Kaitlyn McLeod, and
Natasha Simmons, to their ranks. Joining the Mountaineers' throws squad are freshmen
Mary Bussey,
Emily Edwards,
Brittany Ellis, and
Harlee Fonville. Newcomers freshmen
Ella Battel,
Breanna Budzinski,
Katie Johnson,
Savannah Moore, and seniors
Lauren Johnston and
Emma Russum, will continue to compete as part of App State's distance squad after completing the 2024 cross country slate.
Last Season | Indoor Competition
Five Mountaineers garnered All-SBC honors for their performances at the Sun Belt Indoor Championships last winter.
Rhys Ammon, Wells, Ollendick-Smith, and Donohue collected second team accolades after clocking a time of 11:47.73 in the women's distance medley relay (DMR) to place second on the podium. The quartet's time was a mere 10 seconds from the program record, 11:37.28, which was set in 1999.
Ashlee Osaji also earned third team honors for her performance in the women's triple jump.
Studney matched Suzanne Makinson's 2004 women's indoor pole vault school record of 4.06m (13' 3.75") at the VMI Winter Classic on Feb. 9. She also earned Sun Belt Women's Indoor Field Athlete of the Week honors on Feb. 7 after clinching first in the unseeded women's pole vault with a clearance of 4.00m (13' 1.5") at the Virginia Tech Doc Hale Meet (Feb. 2-3).
The quartet of Ollendick-Smith,
Elizabeth Fuller, Donohue and Ammon set the App State record in the 4x800-meter relay, clocking a time of 9:27.24, at the Mondo College Invite on Jan. 13. The previous school record was 9:33.4, set in 1993.
In addition to the matched and broken records, App State saw movement in several events in the program record book last season. Donohue found her way into the App State all-time list in three individual events. She moved to second in the 1,000 meters (2:58.30), third in the 3,000 meters (9:41.47), and eighth in the mile (4:58.50). Ollendick-Smith, who set the 600-meter record in 2023 as a freshman, recorded a time of 2:12.82 in the 800 meters, which is fifth all-time in the record book.
Adams,
Kendall Johnson, and Wells also found their way into the App State record book in their freshman seasons. The trio all found spots in the 60-meters top-10, with Adams clocking a time of 7.54 (fourth all-time),
Kendall Johnson clocking a time of 7.56 (seventh all-time), and Wells clocking a time of 7.62 (10th all-time). Wells moved to second in the all-time list in the 300 meters with a time of 39.05, while Adams took third in the all-time list in the 200 meters with a time of 24.22. In the program's pole vault top-10 list, Studney was joined by
Noelle Meeker, who stands eighth all-time with a clearance of 3.75m (12' 3.5"). Cooper tied for eighth all-time in the weight throw category after matching LaShanna Poole's 2003 mark of 17.70m (58' 1").
Up Next
The Mountaineers' indoor season goes into full swing on Jan. 17-18 as the Black and Gold heads to Blacksburg, Va. for the Virginia Tech Invitational.
