Men's Track & Field | April 13, 2024
ROME, Ga. – In its final tune-up before the Conference Championships, the Clayton State University track & field team competed in the Berry Field Day Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The Lakers brought home a sixth-place finish with 120 points. Berry, who served as the host, won the meet with 261 points.
FRIDAY ACTION
Action on the track started in the 400m hurdles. Both the men's and women's team saw much success. In the women's race,
Ivorie Smith and
Joy McLeod took third and fourth with times of 67.59 and 68.94, respectively. In the men's race,
Davonte Jackson placed second with a time of 55.47. In the 1500m run,
Tanaeya Johnson was the highest finish on either side with a 12
th place finish with a time of 5:02.57.
In the field events, Jackson continued his strong start to the meet as he won the triple jump with a final mark of 14.46m. He joins Hall of Famer Ahmad Rolle as the only Lakers to mark at least 14m in the triple jump. In the women's event,
Jaazer Ridges finished in seventh with a final mark of 10.32m.
SATURDAY ACTION
Saturday at the Berry Field Day Invitational got off to a hot start for the Lakers. In the 3K steeplechase,
Story Alexander finishes as the runner-up with a final time of 12:17.25. Then, the Lakers saw a record-breaking performance in the women's 4x100 meter relay after the team of
Journie Alexander, Jada Alston,
Ariyonna Jones, and
Cayla Brown placed second with a time of 47.29. That time is good for 43
rd in the nation. The men's team of
Christopher Hart,
Dominic Archer,
Kahmani Zachery, and
Kelvin Oppong finished sixth in the race with a final time of 42.57.
In the 100m hurdles, McLeod finished fifth with a time of 16.54, while Jackson took third in the 110m hurdles with a time of 15.28. The Lakers continued to rack in the points in the women's 400m dash as
Ariyonna Jones finished second with a time of 57 seconds and
Kennedy McDonald finished ninth with a time of 59.12. In the men's 100m dash, Hart finished in ninth crossing the finish line in 10.75 seconds. Hart was only three-tenths-of-a-second off the school record and tied teammate
Titus Hand for the second fastest time in program history. The 800m run saw a pair of ninth place finishes with
JaBresha Palmer and
Rakiem Barnes. Palmer finished her race with a time of 2:23.75 while Barnes went sub-two minutes at 1:56.79.
In the 200m dash, Jones finished in seventh with a time of 24.89. Jones becomes the first Laker to go sub-25 seconds in both the indoor and outdoor 200m dash and becomes only the third Laker to go sub-25 in school history joining fellow teammate
Cayla Brown and record-holder Jasmine Radford. Action ended on the track in the 4x400 meter relay as the team of McDonald, Smith, Palmer, and Alexander finished third with a time of 4:09.06 while the team of
Sancho Smith,
Adarius Andrews,
Camron Gaddis, and Barnes finished in fourth with a time of 3:22.16 on the men's side.
In the field events, Jackson continues his dominance this weekend as he took first place in the long jump with a final distance of 6.83m. With that jump, Jackson moves into fourth place all-time in school history in the event. On the women's side, Alexander jumped to a third-place finish with a final mark of 5.38m. In the high jump,
Freddie Hawkins finished fourth with a final height of 1.92m.
Below are the top-10 finishers for the Lakers at the Meet:
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Lakers compete in the 2024 Peach Belt Conference Outdoor Track & Field Meet on Monday, April 29
th through Tuesday, April 30
th down in Daytona Beach, Fla. The meet is being hosted by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Be sure to follow Clayton State Athletics on
Twitter,
Instagram and
Facebook.
