NEW ORLEANS—The Alabama State University track and field teams started the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Championship with a solid showing on the first day of action. At the end of the day, the Lady Hornets stood in first place with 39 points and the Hornets were fourth with 10 points.
The women's 10,000 meter run was the first event of the day and ASU had two top six finishers. Courtney Gooch (41:32.39) finished fourth in the event while teammate Raheema Hodges (43:31.31) was eighth.
Jephtah Kenei had a strong run in the men's 10,000 meter run, picking up eight points with a second place finish. He finished the crossed the finish line in 33:53.49.
“I was really happy with the 10,000 runs,” head coach Ritchie Beene said. “Courtney and Raheema ran well for us in the 10,000 and Jephtah coming in second and picking up eight points was huge. We only picked up one point in the men's event last year, so this year was much better.”
The first day of competition also hosted the first rounds of the decathlon and heptathlon events. Jeffery Adams was ASU's competitor in the decathlon. Adams picked up 677 points with a first place finish in the long jump and his second place finish in the 100 meter dash earned him 823 points. He also earned 532 points in the shot put with his third place finish and had another third place finish in the high jump earning 644 points. Adams finished the first day of competition with a first place finish in the 400 meter dash, winning with a time of 49.98 and picking up 816 points and will enter the second day of the decathlon completion in first place with 3,492 points and leads the second-place contestant by 82 points.
Tyrisha Chambers was the ASU representative in the heptathlon events. She picked up first place points in 100m hurdles (871 pts.) and the women's high jump which she won with a final jump of 1.70m (855 pts.). She finished fourth in the shot put (501 pts.) and finished third in the 200 meter dash (703 pts.). Chambers finished the first day with 2,930 points, which has her in the lead entering the second day of the heptathlon. She is 97 points in front of the second-place participant.
“I am really excited for Tyrisha and Jeffery,” Beene added. “Tyrisha did a solid job and Jeff really needed to step up for us to even have a chance and he did a great job. But, there is always day two and we need for those them to continue their impressive performances.”
In the women's hammer throw, the Lady Hornets picked up 18 points with three top-five finishes. Melissa Romelus picked up eight second-place points with her throw of 149.08. Shanice Mells was right behind in third place. Her 147.10 throw earned six points and Ciara Taborn's fifth-place throw of 143.05 earned four points.
In the men's javelin throw Quantavious Lockhart finished seventh picking up two points for the Hornets.
ASU was able to pick up 16 points in the women's pole vault as Tanisha Boulware's first-place finish earned the team 10 points and Fola Richardson picked up six points with her fourth-place finish. Boulware doubled her pole vault championship as she also was the indoor pole vault champion.
“I am extremely proud of the two girls in the pole vault,” Beene said. “Tanisha was able to match her indoor championship with the outdoor and Fola was vaulting for the first time and she stepped up with a fourth place finish.”
The championship still has two full days of action before any championships are awarded and Beene knows ASU still has a long way to go.
“We really did ok for the first day of the championship,” Beene said. “But we all know there are going to be two more long days of this competition and we have to be ready to perform both tomorrow and Sunday if we want to come home with the championships.”
Tomorrow's action begins with the final decathlon and heptathlon events at 8 a.m.
Day One Results
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