By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin track and field program traveled to Nashville and competed in the Outdoor Music City Challenge hosted by Vanderbilt in the squad’s final tune-up of the regular season on Friday and Saturday and came back with strong performances to build upon heading into the championship season.
With the impending Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship just around the corner, the Skyhawks set their course to middle Tennessee for a loaded field in the Music City. Competing against several of the area’s programs, the Skyhawks battled windy conditions but came away with numerous personal records.
After just setting a new program record in the long jump last weekend at the ASU Red Wolf Open, sophomore Darius Holland equaled his record-setting distance for the second straight week with a jump of 7.45m to finish second in the finals.
Several of the sprinters showed off their speed over the weekend beginning in the women’s 200m dash on Friday evening as sophomore Janay Chapman set a new PR in the event with a time of 24.98 seconds. Freshman JayleAna Wyatt also joined in the action with a new career-best time of 25.4 seconds in the field. Meanwhile on the men’s side, both freshman JaMichael McGoy (21.93) and sophomore John Collin Askew (22.45) posted their best respective collegiate times in the event.
Next up was the men’s 1500m where sophomore Cole Davis continued to show is grit this season by finishing sixth overall with a time of 3:54.45 to secure a PR of his own.
Friday night’s events were wrapped up by the men’s 3k in which sophomore George Payne paced the Skyhawk men in the field with a time of 8:39.48 to set a new personal benchmark and finish just a second off the program’s all-time record.
Saturday afternoon saw the Skyhawks return to the track and notably in the women’s 100m hurdles as junior Addison Taylor ran to a new PR of 15.18 seconds.
Later in the men’s 400m, Askew returned to action after a strong 200m showing the day before and turned it up another notch by finishing seventh in the field with a time of 49.47 seconds for his second PR of the weekend.
Keeping with the theme of repeat PRs, Wyatt also returned in back-to-back days and posted another PR at the meet, this time in the 100m dash. The freshman posted a time of 12.11 seconds. Also finding success in the all-out sprint was sophomore Colby Martin whose time of 10.96 second ranked as the fastest mark in his career.
The final two performances of note were both in the 800m. On the men’s side, junior Luke McNair finished fourth overall behind a new personal-best time of 1:53.03. Meanwhile in the women’s race, freshman Rita Eimer also set a new PR with a time of 2:20.42.
UT Martin will now turn its attention to finals week over the coming days before returning to competition at the OVC Outdoor Track and Field Championship hosted by Murray State running Wednesday, May 11 through Friday, May 13.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information