Clayton State women place strong fourth at Southeast Regional
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HICKORY, N.C. – April 20-21, 2012 – The Clayton State Laker women's track and field team turned in arguably one of its most productive meets in recent seasons with a strong fourth-place finish on Friday and Saturday in the Southeast Regionals at Lenoir-Rhyne.
The Lakers recorded 84 points to finish fourth in the 12-team field. Clayton state nearly doubled its point total from last season in this same meet and recorded two individual victories and 12 Top Five finishes. Wingate won the event with 178 points.
The two Laker victories came in the field events, and both by Clayton State women's basketball players. Senior Kayla Mobley prevailed in the shot put with a distance of 42-7 feet – a team record in the event – while junior Shannon Smith won the high jump with a height of 5-3 feet. Smith had just joined the Laker track and field program this week.
Mobley also finished third in the discus with a throw of 124-6, while fellow basketball player Jessica Covington finished third in the high jump with a height of 5-3. In addition, sophomore Jhaquil Richardson placed third in both the triple jump (34-2.25) and in the long jump (15-1.5) – both season-bests - while sophomore Jasmine Madison placed fourth in the long jump with a distance of 15-0.75.
In the running events, the Lakers had four Top 10 finishes in the 800-meter run. Freshman Maia Kuhnen continued her strong outdoor season by finishing second with a time of 2:21.98, followed closely in third by teammate Samantha Walling (2:22.50). Junior Monique Belmudes placed fourth in 2:22.83, and sophomore Gisele Javois finished eighth in 2:27.74.
In addition to her strong finish in the 800-meters, Belmudes also placed third in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:51.23, followed by teammate Paige Galvin in sixth in 4:59.47. A pair of improving freshmen recorded Top 10 finishes in the 5,000-meter run – Jessica Smith in eighth (20:31.17) and Holly McNorton in 10th (20:41.97). Madison also placed 10th in the 100-meter dash in 13.65 seconds.
In the relay events, the Clayton State 4x400-meter relay team of Javois, Belmudes, Walling and Galvin placed fourth in 4:16.86.
The next meet for Clayton State is the Coach "O" Invitational at Troy next Saturday (April 28).
