BOONE, N.C. - The App State women's track & field team is set to compete at Clemson's Orange and Purple Invitational in Clemson, S.C. on Jan. 24-25. Friday's action is slated to start bright and early with the multis at 8 a.m. Field events are scheduled to start at 11 a.m. with events on the track slated for 1 p.m. Action on Saturday will start at 9 a.m. with the continuation of the multis. Field events will resume at 10 a.m. and track events will start at 11 a.m. The meet will be available to stream on ACCNX.
Last Time Out
The Mountaineers competed at the Virginia Tech Invitational in Blacksburg, Va. on Jan. 17-18. In her debut in the Black and Gold, freshman
Lilly Nichols shattered the App State program, Sun Belt regular season, and U20 Polish women's indoor pole vault records with a clearance of 4.26m (13' 11.73"). She finished fourth in Saturday's pole vault event. The previous App State program record was 4.06m (13' 3.75"), originally set in 2004 and matched by
Ava Studney in 2024. The previous Sun Belt's regular season record was set in 2017 at a height of 4.20m (13' 9.25") and the previous U20 Polish record was 4.22m (13' 10"), set in 2015. Nichols earned this week's Sun Belt Women's Indoor Field Athlete of the Week honor for her performance.
In her track and field debut for the Mountaineers, freshman
Savannah Moore clocked a personal best of 2:57.90 to place third in the women's unseeded 1,000 meters, moving to second in the App State all-time list. Sophomore
Rhys Ammon, senior
Regan Hodge, and fellow freshman
Ella Battel also finished among the event's top-10 and program's top-10 with times of 3:00.99, 3:02.49, and 3:06.52, respectively.
Sophomore
Kendall Johnson matched her personal best of 7.56 in the women's 60-meter final to place fourth. Junior
Addison Ollendick-Smith registered a fourth-place finish, stopping the clock at 2:13.67 in the women's 800 meters. The 4x400-meter relay team of sophomore
Nicole Wells, Ollendick-Smith, junior
Daye Talley, and sophomore
Jayla Adams stopped the clock at 3:47.24 to place fourth. In the women's unseeded pole vault, graduate student
Noelle Meeker finished fourth with a personal best clearance of 3.86m (12' 8"), which moved her to sixth in the App State all-time list.
Ranked Mountaineers
After her record-breaking performance, Nichols leads the Sun Belt, rounds out the NCAA Southeast Region's top-five, and stands 16th in the NCAA in the women's pole vault. Following Nichols in the women's pole vault category is Studney, who ranks second in the SBC and 14th in the NCAA Southeast Region, and Meeker, who ranks third in the league. The 4x400-meter relay team of Wells, Ollendick-Smith, Talley, and Adams stand second in the league and 12th in the NCAA Southeast Region. Additionally, Ollendick-Smith ranks second in the Sun Belt and ninth in the NCAA Southeast Region in the women's 800 meters. Moore ranks 22nd in the region in the women's 800 meters. In the women's mile, graduate student
Lauren Johnston ranks third in the conference. Seniors
Jasmine Donohue and
Emma Russum round out the Sun Belt's top-five in the women's 3,000 meters. In the region, Donohue ranks 23rd in the event. Freshman
Jahaila Wright rounds out the region's top-25 in the women's long jump.
Up Next
The Mountaineers will make their second trip to Blacksburg, Va. this season for the Doc Hale Invitational on Feb. 7-8.
