BOONE, N.C. - The App State men's and women's track & field team will split for the Wake Forest Invitational in Winston-Salem, N.C. on April 19 and Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta, Ga. on April 19-20.
Wake Forest Invitational
The Wake Forest Invitational is slated for a bright and early start at 7:30 a.m. on Friday. Freshman
Miller Brannen will compete in the men's 800 meters, which starts at 4:04 p.m. and sophomore
Ethan Lipham will compete in the men's 1,500 meters, which is slated for 1:45 p.m.. The men's 5,000 meters will feature junior
Garrett Bivens, senior
Dwayne Lillie, and graduate students
Oliver Wilson-Cook and
Jonah Bird. The first section of the men's 5,000 meters is set for 7:30 a.m. while the second and third sections are slated for 9:00 p.m. and 9:17 p.m., respectively.
Georgia Tech Invitational
The Georgia Tech Invitational will start at 10 a.m. on Friday with field events. Events on the track will start at 5:30 p.m. Saturday's action will start with field events at noon and running events at 1 p.m.
Last Time Out
The Mountaineers made a strong showing at the Duke Invitational on April 11-13, tallying 60 top-20 finishes on the weekend. Graduate student
Ashlee Osaji clinched first in the women's long jump with a leap of 6.31m (20' 8.5"). Junior
Garrett Bivens stopped the clock at 14:25.69 for a personal best and first-place finish of his own in the men's 5,000 meters.
The women's 4x100-meter relay team of freshmen
Nicole Wells and
Sierra Smith, senior
Taylor Smith, and freshman
Jayla Adams stopped the clock at 45.08 for a second-place finish.
Taylor Smith, who earned Sun Belt Women's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week honors, went on to secure silver in the women's 200 meters (23.55) and took fourth in the women's 100 meters with a personal best of 11.56. Both men's relay teams registered fourth-place finishes. The men's 4x400-meter squad of senior
Cole Krehnbrink, freshman
Davis Hunt, senior
Jabari Dalton, and sophomore
Parker Kinney clocked a season best of 3:13.57. The men's 4x100-meter quartet of freshman Armonté Ferguson, sophomores
Kenneth Crawford II and
Harrison Robinson, and Krehnbrink stopped the clock with a season best of 40.85. Robinson went on to round out the top-five in the men's 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.99.
Freshman
Matthew Gray rounded out the top-five in the men's pole vault with a personal best clearance of 5.25m (17' 2.75"), which moved him to second in the App State all-time list.
Ranked Mountaineers
App State ranks among the top-50 in the NCAA in two events. Osaji continues to lead the Sun Belt and Southeast Region in the women's long jump category. In the NCAA East Preliminary Round qualifying list, she ranks third and she stands ninth in the NCAA overall. Gray maintains his rankings as second in the Sun Belt and fifth in the Southeast Region in the men's pole vault. With his new personal best, he climbed to 16th in the NCAA East Prelim qualifying list and 36th in the NCAA overall.
Ten Mountaineers maintain positions on the NCAA East Prelim qualifying list with Osaji and Gray. Robinson (men's 110-meter hurdles), senior
Chris Wainscott (men's shot put), sophomore
Ava Studney (women's pole vault), senior
Niejel Wilkins (men's triple jump), senior
Patrick Freeman (men's pole vault), and junior
Matthew Bigelow (men's pole vault) remain in the top-48. The women's 4x100-meter relay quartet of Wells,
Taylor Smith,
Sierra Smith, and Adams also rank in the top-48.
In the Southeast Region, Osaji, Gray, Robinson, Wainscott, Wilkins, and the 4x100-meter relay team of Wells,
Taylor Smith,
Sierra Smith, and Adams rank in the top-10 in six events.
Around the Sun Belt, 21 Mountaineers stand in the top-five in 17 events. Six Mountaineers rank in the top-five in at least two events. In addition to Osaji leading the league in the women's long jump, senior
Jasmine Donohue leads the league in the women's 5,000 meters. Ranking second in the conference in their respective events is sophomore
Addison Ollendick-Smith (women's 800 meters), Gray (men's pole vault), Studney (women's pole vault), and Wilkins (men's triple jump).
Up Next
The Mountaineers will host the App State Open on April 26-27. The weekend will also include the groundbreaking ceremony for the John Weaver Plaza on Friday, April 26.
