Vanderbilt Track and Field travelled to Jacksonville, Florida, this past weekend to participate in the Hampton Inn River City Relays. In this outdoor debut, the Commodores registered 10 first-place finishes and set a new school record in a memorable start to the spring season.
Field
Elizabeth Bailey broke her own javelin school record of 49.95 meters after recording a mark of 51.38 meters this past weekend. The graduate outthrew her competition by 7.39 metres and has officially become the first Commodore to cross the 50-meter mark in the javelin event. In pole-vault, Jacqueline Rose cleared the meet high with a 3.65-meter height. However, that metric tied with two competitors, resulting in Rose taking home the bronze because she cleared the height on her second attempt.
Additionally, three Black and Gold shot-putters took the top four spots: Sarah Marvin, Gianna Bullock and Devyn Parham. Marvin came out on top with a mark of 15.19 meters, as Bullock and Parham came in third and fourth, respectively, with distances of 12.06 meters and 11.49 meters.
In the long jump, Rowan Houston and Pryncess Jackson both cleared 1.7 meters. Houston placed first, while Jackson was right behind her in second. This clearance was enough to earn the No. 8 spot in Vanderbilt’s history books. Triple jumper Anna Carey set a personal-best following her 11.76-meter leap, placing her in fourth overall, just 6 centimeters shy of the podium. Sophomore Kayleigh Stargell also set a personal best with a long-jump mark of 5.91 meters, earning her second place.
Track
On the track, the Commodores continued to dominate.
Sophomore Alima Kassim made her way into Vanderbilt’s record books after setting a personal record of 11.83 seconds in the 100-meter dash, placing fifth in school history. Meanwhile, in the 200-meter dash, both Lena Gooden and Kassim finished on the podium with marks of 24.25 seconds and 24.30 seconds, respectively.
The 400-meter duo of Faith Franklin and Jayden Hill took home the silver and bronze medals after clocking in times of 52.73 seconds and 55.61 seconds. Franklin’s time is ranked at No. 3 all-time in Commodore history. Distance runner Sofia Day howcased her skill in th 1,500-meters, placing first after clocking a time of 4:32.32.
Senior Mya Georgiadis dominated in the 400-meter hurdles, winning the event with a mark of 1:00.78, nearly two seconds ahead of the runner-up.
In the 100-meter relay, Vanderbilt’s Danielle Ajuana, Josie Donelson, Alima Kassim and London Jackson-Bray set a personal-best mark of 45.27 seconds, claiming the gold medal and earning fourth place in the record books.
To conclude the weekend, the 4×400-meter quartet of Mya Georgiadis, Devyn Parham, Gianna Bullock and Mackenzie Culpepper took home the gold medal after clocking a time of 3:34.84, securing them the title of the third all-time best mark in Vanderbilt history.
The Commodores looks to continue their impressive start to the season at next weekend’s Raleigh Relays in North Carolina, beginning Thursday, March 26.
