Friday, February 18, 2011

JOHNSON City, Tenn. – The Jacksonville Dolphins opened up their five-time title defense with 83 points in the opening day of the Atlantic Sun Conference Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championship at the ETSU/MSHA Athletic Center, 30 points ahead of second-place UNF. JU earned three of the six gold medals given out in day one of the championship.

Jacksonville’s sophomore Charlene Charles shattered the pentathlon record with the 3,670 points en route to her claiming her second career Atlantic Sun Conference Indoor Track & Field gold medal. Charles, the 2010 pentathlon runner-up, broke the previous Atlantic Sun meet record by 180 points. She dominated the jumping events with two first-place scores as performance in the high jump of 1.72m tops the A-Sun pentathlon record.

Kennesaw State’s Naomi Watts earned second place in the event by racing to a first-place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:23.27, only .04 seconds away from tying the A-Sun pentathlon record set by Charles in 2010. The Dolphins placed three competitors in the top-five with Alana Walker and Rayanna Johnson taking third and fifth.

Only .01 meters separated River City rivals Jacksonville and UNF in the women’s long jump as defending champion Charles collected her second medal of the day, while UNF’s Jasmine Jackson earned top honors with her distance of 5.89m.

---

Read the Atlantic Sun Insider Column: Charles in Charge at Indoors

---

The closest race of day one came in the women’s distance medley relay with Lipscomb edging Jacksonville by one-hundredth of a second to give the Lady Bisons their first event title in six years of competition. The quartet of Amanda Twigg, Sara Stephens, Katie Bunker and Dani Walker completed the race in 11:52.93 to break the A-Sun meet record in the event by nearly nine seconds.

Kennesaw State’s Mackenzie Howe opened the final Indoor Championship of her career by claiming her fourth all-time medal in the 3,000-meter run crossing the finish line in 9:53.94. Only three seconds separated her from UNF’s Shelby Kittrell and Erin Nixon. Howe previously won the race in 2009, claimed the runner-up spot last season and took third as a freshman.

The Dolphins put five sprinters and hurdlers into the Saturday finals with Charles, the 2010 Championship MVP, qualifying in both events. JU’s Stacey Young earned the top qualifying spot in the short-distance hurdles at 8.70, while ETSU’s Emani Harrison raced to the top preliminary spot in the 60-meter dash at 7.63.

Jacksonville’s Hillary Crook became the second student-athlete in A-Sun history to become a three-time event winner as her toss of 14.12 in the shot put evened her with former Dolphin Natasha Harvey for the accomplishment. Harvey won the 60-meter hurdles from 2007 through 2009.

Charles capped a spectacular day one for Jacksonville and herself by taking the high jump competition with a height of 1.65m. The sophomore claimed two gold medals and two runner-up finishes to total 28 points on the day.

Day two gets underway at 11:30 a.m. with a pair of field events, the pole vault and the weight throw.

For Atlantic Sun Indoor Track & Field Championship Updates, follow the Atlantic Sun on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.