Stephen F. Austin
LSU Purple Tiger Invitational
Men’s 4x400m Relay Highlights 2016 Opener at LSU
1/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Complete Results 
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Stephen F. Austin men’s 4x400 meter relay was established as one of the best in the country in 2015.
It started the 2016 season the same way.
In the final event for the ‘Jacks at the LSU Purple Tiger Inviational inside Carl Maddox Field House, SFA claimed the top spot in the always exciting quarter mile relay with a time of 3:16.57. The mark would be good for the 12th fastest in the nation prior to Friday’s action.
Sophomores My’Lik Kerley, Tedrick Hawkins and Johnathan Joe, along with freshman D’Lance Sharp, teamed up for the win. The group edged out 12 other relays, including Southland Conference rival Sam Houston State.
The women’s 4x400m relay also fared well, taking third place in a crowded 18-team field. Sophomore Tiffany Williams, the only retuning leg of the Ladyjacks’ winning outdoor relay last May, and freshmen Allison Compass, Madison Compass and Dawnshae Evans posted a time of 3:54.27 to beat out six other league squads.
Each relay runner had other strong performances on the track on the night. Evans raced to a third place finish in the women’s 400m after clocking in at 57.84 seconds – the fastest clip among all SLC competition. Kerley stretched his legs to the 600m race individually, taking fourth behind three LSU runners. He crossed in 1:20.11.
Another high point of conversation for the ‘Jacks on the track was both sides of the 200m dash. For the women, it was LSU transfer Aliyah Davis shining in a venue she knows well. The junior recorded a time of 25.41 seconds to warrant runner-up honors out of 48 other women. Chelsi Gill was close behind in fifth with a 25.58-second effort.
The men were led by Devin Wallace and Hawkins as both finished in 22.49 seconds to take fourth and fifth, respectfully, after going to the thousandth decimal place.
Another SFA freshman who stepped up on the night was Jordan Washington. In his collegiate debut, he took third in the men’s 60m hurldes with a speedy 8.13 second-showing. All-SLC performer Kerry Gleason was right on his heels in fourth with a 8.19-second mark. In total, 28 runners competed in the event.
The ‘Jacks found success in the longer races as well. Kaleb Vasquez’ time of 2:01.59 in the 800m was good enough for fourth.
There was a plethora of purple and white near the leaders in the mile for both the men and the women. Senior Shelby Pesek was edged by just 0.62 hundredths of a second for first in the women’s mile. She came in at 5:13.83, just in front of teammate Katrina Fite (4th – 5:15.26).
The men dominated the mile leaderboard with Quinlin McGregor (2nd – 4:22.35), Nick Guerra (5th – 4:29.64), Colby Mehmen (6th – 4:30.06) and Cody Brown (7th – 4:30.72) all running solid races.
The longest individual race of the night, the 3,000m run, saw SFA’s Josh Torres take second place with a time of 9:00.41. He outlasted 25 other men in the grueling battle.
Both the men’s and women’s 4x800m relay teams grabbed third to round out SFA’s top track events. The Compass sisters, Rana Ryan and Tasia Williams slipped past Mississippi State with a time of 9:22.85. Cole Stallcup, Samuel Wallace, John Shirk and Vasquez finished in 7:59.77 for the men.
Senior Jessica Spelling highlighted the field events for SFA, using a throw of 45-08.50 feet (13.93m) in the women’s shot put to earn second place out of 23. She hit the mark on her last attempt.
Junior Lucas Akins registered a toss of 54-04.75 feet (16.58m) in the men’s shot put to claim third of 24. Like Spelling, he saved his best for last, launching the final mark on his final clean attempt.
In the jumps, freshman Isiah Pittman leaped to fourth place in the long jump (23-06.25 feet/7.17m) while senior Caitlin Jones skied over 5-04.25 feet (1.63m) on her second attempt in the women’s high jump to pick up a fifth place season debut.
SFA will get back after it next Saturday at the Texas A&M Team Invitational in College Station. The first events are set to start at noon.
-SFA-
Players Mentioned
