Track and field take four at Jace Lacoste Invitational
Published On: 03/24/2008
The UAB track and field team had a strong meet at the Jace LaCoste Invitational hosted by Mississippi State on Saturday.
The Blazers had four first-place finishes, although head coach Ray Stanfield said this meet was focused more on preparing the girls for the remainder of the season.
”This was a good strong opener for the entire team,” Stanfield said. “I ran a lot of the girls in mutliple events for training purposes so we can start building toward the end of the season. “ Jacinta Scruggs and Katrina Harrell may have had the best overall meets for UAB.
Harrell won the 200-meter dash and placed third in the 100-meter dash finals, with times of 24.28 and 12.04 seconds, respectively. She also ran on the second-place 4x100-meter and first-place 4x400-meter relay teams.
Scruggs beat the field to win the 400-meter dash competition. Her 56.83 was two seconds faster than any other runner. She also contributed to the relay teams.
Whitney Mays ran to a first-place finish in the 1500-meter run, finishing with a time of 4:47.11. Alina Varpiotaite placed third (4:51.31), Genoah Collins took seventh (5:02.63) and Kendel Hood came in 10th (5:19.98).
Stephanie Gammon led the Blazers in the 3,000-meter run with her fifth-place finish, crossing the line in 10:23.27. Mays notched an eighth-place finish (10:54.09) while Lacey Wright came in 12th (11.23.99).
Varpiotaite took second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:13.11 while Collins came in fourth with a time of 2:19.10. Both runners had provisionally qualified for the event during the indoor season. Bianca LeBlanc and Katie Horton both competed in the event as well.
Amber Walker ran a 25.54 to finish sixth in the 200-meter dash and Timara McMillan finished eighth with a time of 26.55.
The Blazers had a strong outing in the 400-meter run with Veronica Johnson finishing third (59.27), Katryce Sykes running to a fourth-place finish (1:01.03), Christina Chambers coming in sixth (1:02.02) and Tracy Rowan in seventh (1:02.71).
Up next for UAB is the Alabama Relays which begins Thursday in Tuscaloosa.
