Final standings
1) Liberty – 289
2) High Point – 150.5
3) Charleston Southern – 100.5
4) Campbell – 100
5) Radford – 60
6) UNC Asheville – 50
7) Winthrop – 37.5
8) Gardner-Webb – 28.5
Led by two record-setting performances in the relays, the Radford University track & field team moved up the standings to take fifth at the 2018 Big South Outdoor Championship on Friday.
The Highlanders came into the final day of the meet with 10 points and goals to move up from eighth. It took a big effort from each and every member of the program, but 50 points on the final day moved the team up three spots to secure the fifth-place finish with a total of 60 points.
Radford’s effort in the 4×100-meter relay was a big part of that. For the fourth time this season, the team of Kierra Henderson, Amelia Reynolds, Alexis Stafford and La’Tisha Chambers took down the school record. The quartet upped its game against the conference’s premiere talent and managed to finish in 45.80 seconds, picking up six points with a third-place finish.
Then in the last event of the week, the 4×400-meter relay team of Henderson, Tenae Washington, Chambers and Reynolds made another edit to the Radford record books. The group ran the relay in 3:49.03, shaving more than three seconds off the previous record, to place third.
Chambers completed a fantastic showing in her individual events with the 200-meter dash. She tore up the track, crossing the finish line with a PR of 24.16 seconds to move into second on the program’s all-time top-10 list.
The next Highlander earn a place on the podium was Karryngton Harrison. The Oxon Hill, Md. native won a bronze medal after running a personal record 14.21 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles. The 400-meter hurdles saw Washington snag one more point as well.
Amelia Reynolds then took it a step further, winning a silver medal in the 400-meter dash with PR time of 55.25 seconds. The mark is good for fourth in Radford history, behind three times from one of the all-time program greats, Khadijah Conda.
In the last of four throws events she was entered in this week, sophomore Anastasia Kramer used her final throw of the meet to set a new PR in the hammer throw. With her career’s best distance sitting at 34.64 meters coming into the week, she reached 41.83 meters (137’3″) to end her season on a high note.
Annsley Eckert capped off her first collegiate season with a PR of 4:47.41 in the 1,500 meters, placing seventh to give Radford two more points.
Six more points came by way of the 100-meter dash thanks to Chambers and Reynolds. Chambers crossed the finish line with a time matching her PR of 12.05 seconds while Reynolds came in just behind in seventh at 12.19 seconds.
Henderson ended the night with yet another positive for the team as she was named to the Big South All-Academic team. The Allied Health Sciences major accumulated a 3.75 grade point average while excelling on the track.
–RU Athletics
