KENNESAW, Ga. – Seeking at a minimum NCAA provisional times in a trip just down the road, junior
Jasmine Radford (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and senior
Destiny Johnson (New Iberia, La.) led Clayton State men's and women's track & field in that pursuit as a select group of individuals competed at the Don McGarey Invitational on Saturday, April 27.
While not hitting a provisional, Radford once again wrote her name in the Laker record books as she ran in the 200-meters. In that event she posted a time of 24.62 to finish 6-of-32 but the real story was that that improved upon her own program record of 24.82 by two tenths of a second. She set the latter last year at the 2018 Peach Belt Conference Championships.
Meanwhile, competing in her signature event, the high jump, Johnson delivered her second provisional height this month as she cleared the bar at a personal best 1.68-meters. That bettered both her previous PR and the current provisional threshold of 1.67-meters and gave her a 3-of-11 finish. She had set the earlier mark at the Gulf South/Peach Belt Challenge on April 6.
Additionally, sophomores
Corta'Nasha Mutcherson (Savannah, Ga.) and
Chaviya Jackson (Albany, Ga.) each notched personal bests in the 200-meters. Mutcherson notched a time of 25.22 to finish 16
th while Jackson was at 25.65 and 21
st.
For the men, senior
T.J. Witherspoon (Thomasville, Ga.) came within 0.17 of an NCAA provisional in the 800-meters, finishing with a time of 1:52.20. While not quite good enough to make the NCAA lists it was a personal best and locked up a 1-of-20 finish. Sophomore
Courtland White (Rex, Ga.) posted a fourth place finish in that event as he obliterated his PR with a time of 1:55.13, besting the mark by nearly three seconds.
Clayton State will have one more shot at earning NCAA provisional berths two weeks from now when they head to Mount Olive, North Carolina for the Mount Olive First Chance and Mount Olive Last Chance on May 11 and 12, respectively. The field for the 2019 NCAA Division II National Championships will be announced on Wednesday, May 15.
CLAYTON STATE MEN'S COMPETITORS (3)
Derrick Ward – 400-meters hurdles (4-of-8, 56.66)
Courtland White – 800-meters (4-of-20, 1:55.13)
T.J. Witherspoon – 800-meters (1-of-20, 1:52.20)
CLAYTON STATE WOMEN'S COMPETITORS (5)
Nia Elmore – 100-meters (10-of-22, 12.195)
Chaviya Jackson – 200-meters (21-of-32, 25.65), 400-meters (5-of-13,1:00.25)
Destiny Johnson – High Jump (3-of-11, 1.68m)^
Corta'Nasha Mutcherson – 200-meters (16-of-32, 25.22), 400-meters (8-of-13,1:00.98)
Jasmine Radford – 200-meters (6-of-32, 24.62)#
#Indicates School Record
^Indicates NCAA Provisional Mark
