Wally Pendergrass
Staff Writer
The track and field team finished up its schedule leading to the Sun Belt Conference Championships this past weekend at the Samford Multi and Invitational. Several Trojans posted solid results and broke into the conference standings for certain events.
Three Trojans found their way into the conference standings based on their results from the weekend. Freshmen Dallas Worthy and Taylor McDonald both set season best times in the 400-meter dash. Worthy finished with a time of 57.44, which earned her 13th in the event and McDonald finished at 59.43 earning her 40th place in the event. Those results put McDonald in at 15th and Worthy at third in the conference standings for the 400-meter dash.
Sophomore Julia Ostendorf placed 12th in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:21.64. With that result she moves into eighth place in the Sun Belt Conference Standings in that event. She also sits in 19th in the conference in the 3,000-meter run. The 4×400-meter relay team of Worthy, McDonald, sophomore Aleeza Kempton and senior Tiffany Slater may have finished 20th in the event but ran a season best time of 4:00.68, which moved them into eighth place in the Sun Belt Conference.
Head coach Jill Lancaster wants her team to focus on the upcoming conference championships. “We must take today and improve on it with solid training over the next weeks leading into the Sun Belt Championships. Even though many had improved efforts, the moral victories are not enough.”
The Trojans will travel to Birmingham for the Sun Belt Conference Championships on Feb. 24-25. The championships will be held at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
