New Year, New Records

The Koalas Indoor Track & Field team had a split squad weekend. Some of the team competed on Friday and Saturday at the University of South Carolina for the Gamecock Opener. The rest of the team traveled Sunday to JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, NC for the JDL College Kickoff Meet.

 Leading the Koalas in the Gamecock Opener was freshman Zaida Carson who set a new school record in the shot put with a toss of 11.62 meters (38 feet, 1.5 inches) to finish 17th in the event overall. Just behind Zaida was her teammate, sophomore Aleah Bromell who finished 19th with a toss of 11.55 meters.

 Junior Kelsey White-Kennedy ran a time of 9.53 seconds in the 60m hurdles to finish 22nd overall in the event. Freshman Valeria Bogdanova set a new collegiate personal best in the 800 meters with a time of 2:29.20, good for 26th place.

 On the next day, at JDL Fast Track, the Koalas strong crop of racewalkers took to the track to continue their dominance. Freshman Victoria Heiser-Whatley led the way by setting a new facility record, and beating her own school record, with a time of 15:23.21 in the 3000 meter racewalk. That time ranks Victoria in the NAIA at #2 in the nation. Her twin sister Jessica Heiser-Whatley walked a new collegiate best of 16:02.75 and ranks her #6 in the NAIA.

 Just behind the Heiser-Whatley twins were sophomore Shelby Winn, junior Brittany Robbins, sophomore Hannah Mishkoff, and freshman Gabrielle Huggins who all had a strong race and are currently sitting in the national NAIA rankings at #9, #10, #12, and #13, respectively.

 Freshman Valeria Bogdanova ran a new personal best in the 600 meters in a time of 1:43.60 which puts her #2 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference in that event.

 The Koalas 4x400m and 4x800m relays teams would finish in 6th and 7th place respectively.

 The Koalas will travel to Roanoke College next weekend for the Finn Pincus Invitational.