Women's Track & Field Qualifies 15 for AAC Meet During Shamrock Invite in Myrtle Beach

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - The Columbia College outdoor women's track and field team competed at the Alan Connie Shamrock Invitational this past weekend and came away with some decent results qualifying 15 different women for the AAC Meet in April.

Leading the Koala women in the track events were sophomore sprinter Latrice Brown as she placed 16th out of 82 in the 100 meters in 12.65 seconds just missing out on qualifying for the finals. But her time was good enough to qualify for the AAC Meet. Fellow sophomores Ashante Shaw and Mykayla Howard also placed 39th and 40th in 12.97 seconds while freshman  Ziykila Henderson was 43rd in 13 seconds. All four women qualifed for the AAC conference meet.

In the 100m Hurdles, Indoor All-American, sophomore Mackenzie Pringle qualified for NAIA nationals to lead the ladies by placing 14th (2nd in NAIA) out of 44 in 15.4 seconds while Henderson was 23rd in 16.7 seconds. Both women qualified for conference as well. Pringle then competed in her primary event, the Triple Jump, on Saturday and went on to place 6th overall and first in the NAIA with a mark of 11.85 meters (38 ft) to again qualify for conference and nationals.

In the 200 meters, Brown and Howard finished neck-and-neck placing 16th and 17th in 25.3 and 25.4 seconds. Shaw then finshed 28th in 26 seconds while freshman Tylashia Alston was 44th in 26.8 seconds. All four ladies again qualified for conference in the 200.  Freshman Faith Eugene also competed and finished 53rd in 27.3 seconds.

In the 400 meters on Friday, Alston again led CC, qualifying for conference by placing 5th overall in 1:03.2 seconds. Eugene ran the 400 also, coming in 23rd place in 1:06. Z. Henderson then qualified for the conference meet in the 400m Hurdles on Saturday by running a time of 1:10.3 to place 20th of 47.

In the women's field events, CC was led by senior Darci Dawson placing 5th in the Discus Throw on Saturday with a mark of 37.7 meters while then placing 2nd in the Shot Put with a mark of 12.6 meters (41 ft). She was also 17th in the Hammer Throw at 39 meters to qualify for the AAC meet in all three events. Also competing in the Discus were sophomore Qu'sondra Wideman and freshman Kezia Jones placing 27th and 29th with throws of 31.3 and 30.3 meters respectively to also each qualify for the conference meet.

In the Hammer throw on Friday afternoon, the Lady Koalas were led by senior Anaya Canty finishing 11th overall out of 48 to qualify for the AACs with a throw of 42.2 meters. Sophomore Doreshia McAllister then placed 21st at 37.5 meters to join Canty and Dawson in the AAC Hammer throw qualifying.

In the Javelin throw on Thursday, sophomore Azia Holmes finished 23rd with a throw of 23.2 meters (76 ft) while she then went on to compete in the Shot Put on Saturday and post a mark of 10.23 meters (33 ft) to place 16th and also qualify for conference. Canty was the last women to qualify in the SP placing 21st with a mark of just over 10 meters. 

During the Long Jump on Friday morning, the Koalas were led by sophomore Makayla Blango placing 14th with a jump of 5.07 meters (16 ft) to qualify for the AAC meet as well. Howard also competed in the LJ but her mark of 4.5 meters was not enough to qualify as she placed 33rd out of 53.

In the Relays on Saturday, the Lady Koalas went on to finish 12th of 21 in the 4x100m relay race finishing in 49.5 seconds. The team consisted of Z. Henderson, A. Shaw, M. Howard, and L. Brown.