Flurry Of PRs, First-Place Finishes For The Racers At The Thundering Herd Invite

Saturday, January 30

Huntington, W.Va.

Murray State

Thundering Herd Invite

Flurry Of PRs, First-Place Finishes For The Racers At The Thundering Herd Invite

1/30/2021 5:19:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

In the first full team meet since February 2020, the Racers earned six first-place finishes and eight athletes set new PRs

Murray State women's track & field claimed six first-place finishes and eight student-athletes set new PRS on Saturday as the program at Marshall University's Thundering Herd Invite. Going up against Marshall, Ohio and WVU, the Racers tabbed victories in the triple jump, high jump, long jump, 60m, 200m and the 300m inside the Chris Cline Athletic Complex.

"Overall I think physically we had a good meet. Mentally we definitely need to get back into competition mode. The schedule of events was quite condensed so the athletes who had multiple events today did well preparing for each one," said Head Coach Adam Kiesler. "I am glad we got a chance to compete and seeing 6 event winners is always a positive thing to take out of a meet. As we get further into the semester it will be exciting to see how we grow from this meet with trying to win an outdoor OVC title as our ultimate goal."

In the first event of the day, the pole vault, freshman Ella Siebenberger cleared her first collegiate bars to tie for fourth place with teammate junior Brooke Misukonis at a height of 3.45m. Sophomore Jenna Pauly finished sixth in the event.

The Racer women earned a 1-2-3 podium sweep in the triple jump, led by freshman Jasmine Claunch, who opened her career as a Racer with a distance of 11.55m. Sophomore Keyondra Mason jumped to a new PR of 10.87m and junior Eleri Gesler jumped 10.52m.

Sophomore Meghan Fletcher had her second-straight victory in the high jump, winning with a height of 1.68m.

Racers junior Rachel Hagans took first place in her long jump season opener with a mark of 5.43m. Claunch finished second at 5.10m while senior Jessikha Ribeiro (4.92m), Mason (4.68m) and Gesler (4.66m) came in fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively.

In the shot put, Pauly set a new PR, besting her previous record of 8.96m with 9.14m.

The Racers had six sprinters advance to the finals of the 60m finals. Freshman Teliyah James came out on top with a time of 7.67. Sophomore Kenia Seals (7.81), senior Jumiya Denning (7.83) and Hagans (7.83) finished second, third and fourth, respectively.

Freshman Nia Scott finished second in a close race in the 60m Hurdles with a time of 9.14. Senior Wambui Watene also set a new personal record (9.75).

Sophomore Lucia Herrero-Yanez won the 300m dash (40.67) and is now third all-time in Murray State history.

Three Racers put up new personal-bests in the 800m Run. Sophomores Kayla Bell (2:23.21), LaMiah Campbell (2:15.28) and Zarra Humphry (2:23.45) all bested previous their times.

James earned her second victory of the night, winning the 200m dash with a time of 25.13. Junior JaKayla McSwain crossed in fourth (26.45).

Murray State returns to Huntington, West Virginia for the Marshall Invite on Saturday, February 13^th for their final indoor meet of the 2021 season.