Season Bests Highlight Day One of Sykes & Sabock Challenge Cup

Day One Results

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The James Madison track & field team had two more athletes qualify for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Indoor Championships on Friday at the Sykes & Sabock Challenge Cup at Penn State while numerous athletes posted season-best marks on the first of two days of competition.

Sophomore Ebony Owusu-Sampah highlighted the top finishes for the Dukes with a win in the long jump competition. The sophomore qualified for the ECAC meet with a jump of 5.90 meters, surpassing the necessary standard of 5.70 meters. The mark is a personal best for Owusu-Sampah, as her previous long was 5.81 meters at last year's Patriot Games.

Sophomore Annie Johnson became the first JMU runner to qualify for the ECAC Championships in the 60-meter dash this season with a time of 7.67 seconds. In the process, she posted the sixth-best time in program history in the event. Finishing fifth in the race, Johnson beat the ECAC standard of 7.68 seconds by just one-thousandth of a second. The mark is a season best for Johnson, who finished with a time of 7.69 seconds in the event last week at the Patriot Games.

Having qualified for the ECAC Championships at previous meets in the 60-meter hurdles, freshman Aereale Scott improved her personal-best time by posting a mark of 8.62 seconds in the final running of the event. She is now tied for second place all-time with Davida Walker, who posted her mark in 1992. Sophomore De'Ana Forbes turned in a time of 8.60 in her preliminary race prior to finishing fourth in the finals with a time of 8.64 seconds.

In the 60-meter dash, Forbes improved her season-best time to 7.77 seconds. She ran the event in 7.78 seconds last week at the Patriot Games. The mark puts her eighth all-time in the JMU record books in the event. Sophomore Abby Duncan also improved her season-best time in the event by posting a mark of 7.81 seconds, which stands tied for 10th all-time in the 60-meter dash.

Sophomore Meghan Malloy bested her previous season-high mark in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:12.14. She ran the same event last month at the Navy Winter Invitational in 18:47.49.

JMU will continue the Sykes & Sabock Challenge Cup on Saturday, Feb. 7, on day two of competition at Penn State. Competition will start at 11 a.m.

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