By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
JONESBORO, Ark. – The University of Tennessee at Martin track and field program made the short trip over to Arkansas State to compete in the ASU Red Wolf Open this weekend and came home with two new school records and three event titles to their name.
The Skyhawk field duo of Darius Holland and MJ Jackson had a big weekend for the Skyhawks by not only combining to win the men’s long jump, high jump and triple jump, but also set new program records in two of the three events.
In addition to the team’s impressive performances in field events, the Skyhawks also posted three runner-up finishes in the men’s and women’s 1500m along with the women’s 100m dash.
Meet Highlights
- For the third consecutive meet, junior Darius Holland reigned supreme in the men’s long jump with another first-place finish on Friday night. He paced the team with a distance of 7.35m on his final attempt. Then on Saturday, he not only won the men’s high jump, but set a new program record with a leap of 1.90m to break his own previous record by 0.02 meters.
- Junior newcomer MJ Jackson also posted a record-setting performance at the meet. Jackson won the triple jump with a distance of 14.44m, besting Holland’s previous school mark by 0.1 meters set last season.
- Junior Janay Chapman just missed out on an event title after posting a time of 12.30 seconds to finish runner-up in the women’s 100m dash.
- Graduate Luke McNair finished runner-up in the men’s 1500m with a time of 3:49.63. His time finished just 0.43 seconds out of first place and ranked as a new PR for the team veteran.
- Junior Lilia Alvarez led the way for the Skyhawks in the women’s 1500m on Friday night by posting a time of 4:37.89 to also finish as the event runner-up and stake her claim to an individual PR.
- Freshman Maggie Roy also had a strong performance in the women’s 1500m by posting a personal-best of her own with a mark of 4.44.65 in the event.
- Sophomore Hudson Hall finished sixth for the Skyhawk men in the 1500m with a time of 3:54.91 to set a new PR while freshman Ethan Knight also set a pair of PRs in the meet, including his time of 3:59.03 in the 1500m.
- Freshman Renee Blades posted a pair of personal-best performances at the ASU Red Wolf Open. In the women’s long jump, she posted a distance of 5.38m to set a PR while also coming in sixth in the women’s 400m with a time of 1:00.34.
UT Martin will wrap up the regular season with an appearance at the Outdoor Music City Challenge – hosted by Vanderbilt – next weekend from Saturday, Apr. 29 through Sunday, Apr. 30.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information