TU sets personal bests in Florida
By: Muhammad Waheed, Staff Writer
Photo courtesy of towsontigers.com
Sophomore Shelby Francis set a new personal record in the 400-meter hurdles at the Pepsi Florida Relays this past weekend in Gainesville, Florida.
Francis won the seventh heat of the event with a time of 1:02.42, placing 26th overall. Towson had three throwers place in the top 10 at the meet.
“She went out hard and competed well this time around,” Head Coach Mike Jackson said. “She did not have her best performance last week and was looking for some redemption.”
Junior Phontavia Sawyer had a 14.75-meter toss in the shot put, earning fifth place.
“She is a great competitor, but was most definitely disappointed with her performance,” Jackson said. “We played to win so she was not able to accomplish that.”
Junior Lauren Coleman came in sixth place in the event, with a throw of 15.51 meters.
Senior Ksenia Safonova threw 57.04 meters in the hammer throw for a ninth-place finish.
“We did not have great individual performances but had some great competitions throughout our team,” Jackson said. “I think it will pay off moving forward as we get to the championship season.”
The 4×200-meter relay team of sophomores Jamila Brown and Helnsarah Penda and juniors Victoria Jones-Alleyne and Arianna Waller placed 13th, totaling a school record time of 1:37.72.
“We have a lot of great depth and ability with each student-athlete and we put out each athlete with the trust that they are going to get the job done and they did that in the relay,” Jackson said.
Towson also took part in the Navy Open, hosted at Ingram Field at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland Saturday.
”Paige Keefer won the 800 and we had a lot of very good performances from our horizontal jumpers including some of our sprinters,” Jackson said. “Kaylee Ryan had a personal record in the 5K which was exciting to see.”
Towson will compete at the Loyola-Johns Hopkins Invitational hosted at the Loyola/Johns Hopkins Track & Field Complex in Baltimore on Friday, April 6.
