CLARKSVILLE - Austin Peay State University
women's track and field team will have another chance to grade their fall
training schedule when it competes at the MT Christmas Invitational, beginning
at 2 p.m., Friday, at Middle Tennessee's Murphy Center.
The five-team meet includes host Middle
Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Ohio Valley Conference member Tennessee State,
Alabama-Birmingham and Austin Peay.
"This will be our second test of the season
and we will look to build on what we started last week," head coach Doug Molnar
said. "I thought we had a great start and some outstanding performances for
early in the season."
The Lady Govs had an impressive start to the
indoor season at the Saluki Fast Start, last Saturday. In what Molnar classified
as the team's best start during his time at Austin Peay, a group of experienced
sprinters led the Lady Govs to a number of high finishes.
Cenitra Hudson neared the school-record in
the 60-meter dash and Chiamaka Obi finished second in the 600-meter dash. Ashley Carson and Leigha Tolliver also brought home top-10 finishes in the 60-meter
hurdles.
Perhaps the most notable improvement was with
the 400-meter relay team. Alexandra Pinkston, Candace Johson, Carson and Obi
ran the relay almost seven seconds faster than their season-opening time, last
season.
Molnar also was pleased with the jumpers,
particularly April Holman who finished fourth in the high jump. Molly Basch
began her quest to replace OVC Champion vaulters Carrie Burggraf and Molly Bartkiewicz
with a fourth-place vault to finish seventh at the Fast Start.
"Everybody looked good (last weekend),"
Molnar said, "but we will have to continue to improve to get to where we want
come OVC Championship time. We'll use this meet as another gauge. This weekend,
we will have everybody in action. Our distance runners and all of our
sprinters will now be added into the mix."
-AP-