Courtesy of WKU Athletics
BIRMINGHAM – WKU Track & Field’s Alexis Williams, Grace Turner and Brett Brannon
earned individual event titles on Saturday at the Samford Invitational at the
Birmingham Crossplex. Across the whole day, the Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers
recorded 18 top-five finishes, including the four victories from the trio.
“I was very pleased with the team’s effort today coming off a short one-week
turnaround,” said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Brent Chumbley. “We should
be back at full strength in two weeks when we return to action again in Birmingham.”
Leading the squad was sophomore Williams who won both the 60-meter and 200-meter
women’s races. Coming out of the 60-meter preliminaries, the Fayetteville, Ga.,
native led all three heats of qualifying with a 7.61 mark. Her final race of 7.49 is
the fourth-fastest in indoor Lady Topper history as she bested every other women’s
60-meter time of the day by at least 0.15 seconds.
Williams also won the 200-meter with a time of 24.51. Her times in both the 60 and
200 lead Conference USA. The 60-meter mark is ranked 20th in the nation while her
200-meter time is ranked 27th.
“It was great to see Alexis come into her own as a sprinter,” said sprints coach
Tosha Ansley. “Her wins were great. With a 7.49 as her second time truly running the
60, I’m really pleased with that. As far as her 200 goes, it was okay, but it
could’ve been even better. It was a solid start for her, and now we’re just getting
ready for the rest of the season.”
Sophomore pole vaulter Turner won the women’s event with a mark of 3.70 meters,
currently ranking second in C-USA. This is her second collegiate pole vaulting win
after notching a PR and victory at the Marshall Invitational in 2020.
“Grace picked up a good win today in the pole vault,” said Chumbley. “We took some
good attempts at a new PR, but it just didn’t happen for her today. I was very happy
with her mental approach and I’m excited for the next two weeks of training.”
Wrapping up the individual victories was Brannon in the weight throw. The junior
recorded a significant personal record, saving his best throw for the last of his
six attempts. His mark of 16.91 meters currently ranks third in C-USA. Teammate
Kaison Barton finished just behind him in third in his first time competing in
weight throw.
“The men’s throw group saw several PRs today,” said Chumbley. “The biggest move of
the day was Brett (Brannon). He had a major PR going from last week’s 16.14 to
16.91, and he got his first collegiate win. Kaison (Barton) competed in weight
throw for the first time and had a solid 16.04-meter throw for third. He also had
another shotput PR for the second week in a row.”
The rest of WKU squad sported 14 other top-five finishes. The Hilltopper sprinting
trio of Dartez Hamlin, Marlowe Mosley and Elliott Bryant were three of the top five
in the 60-meter finals. Bryant won his individual heat before finishing fifth while
Mosley went on to a new PR of 6.987 and a third-place finish. Hamlin was between the
two in fourth at 6.989 seconds. Hamlin and Mosley finished second and third,
respectively, in the 200-meter as well.
“They still need a little work here and there. I’m glad they’re going to have this
coming week off in order to get some good training in and get ready for the rest of
the season,” said Ansley on the crew. “They saw where their weaknesses were, and we
just will go from there. It was good to see them back on the track again. Every
weekend that we can run and stay healthy, as much as we can, is a good thing. I’m
just looking forward to what we can do as the season progresses.”
The distance and mid-distance squad also saw some improvement from last week’s
season opener to Friday at Samford. Senior Savannah Heckman led the women with a
seventh-place finish in the 3000-meter and a 10th-place finish in the mile. Junior
Dedrick Troxell returned to the track with three races, finishing fifth in the 800
and sixth in the mile. Teammate Emerson Wells logged PRs in the mile and 3000-meter
while finishing fifth in the latter.
“Our focus right now is simply to race aggressively for as long as we can,” said
assistant coach Brooks LeCompte. “I want them to get uncomfortable early and learn
to adapt. As the year goes on, I expect most to continue to improve as some of them
did this weekend. The girls have a ways to go to be competitive in this conference,
but the guys ran well despite missing a few runners.”
WKU will take two weeks off competition before traveling back to Birmingham for the
Jaguar Invitational hosted by South Alabama on Sunday, February 7.
Women’s Results
60m
1st after prelims – Alexis Williams – 7.61
9th after prelims – Samyzia Sears – 8.00
1st after finals – Alexis Williams – 7.49, fourth in school history*
200m
1st – Alexis Williams – 24.51
5th – Samyzia Sears – 25.96*
800m
17th – Maddy Hurt – 2:36.17
1 mile
10th – Savannah Heckman – 5:22.80
14th – Maddy Hurt – 5:34.85
15th – Lucy Rutherford – 5:40.65
18th – Zoe Manning – 6:02.12
3000m
7th – Savannah Heckman – 10:49.71
13th – Maddy Hurt – 11:26.04*
14th – Zoe Manning – 11:39.68*
5000m
2nd – Zoe Manning – 20:17.56
Weight Throw
9th – Mary Claire Redden – 13.06m*
Pole Vault
1st – Grace Turner – 3.70m
10th – Nikki Ogorek – 3.25m
11th – Allison Ferguson – 3.10m
Men’s Results
60m
2nd after prelims – Dartez Hamlin – 6.97
5th after prelims – Elliott Bryant – 7.02, won individual heat
7th after prelims – Marlowe Mosley – 7.03
3rd after finals – Marlowe Mosley – 6.99 (6.987)*
4th after finals – Dartez Hamlin – 6.99 (6.989)
5th after finals – Elliott Bryant – 7.00*
200m
2nd – Dartez Hamlin – 21.75
3rd – Marlowe Mosley – 21.87
7th – Elliott Bryant – 22.40
10th – Jonathan Allen – 22.65*
800m
5th – Dedrick Troxell – 1:59.57
1 mile
6th – Dedrick Troxell – 4:16.70
12th – Emerson Wells – 4:26.68*
3000m
5th – Emerson Wells – 8:43.62*
8th – Will Perrone – 9:35.26
5000m
5th – Will Perrone – 16:27.04
Shot Put
5th – John Elam – 14.83m
3rd – Kaison Barton – 15.69m*
Weight Throw
1st – Brett Brannon – 16.91m*
3rd – Kaison Barton – 16.04m*
7th – Joel Dittoe – 14.50m
Pole Vault
5th – Devon Montgomery – 4.55m
*signifies collegiate PR
