Multiple Dukes Crack All-Time Top 10 Lists at Split Meets

Friday, February 13

Lynchburg, Va.

All Day

James Madison University

Liberty Quad

Multiple Dukes Crack All-Time Top 10 Lists at Split Meets

2/13/2015 11:03:00 PM | Track & Field

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The James Madison women's track & field team went two different directions on Friday in sending a handful of athletes to the Liberty Quad in Lynchburg, Virginia, while sending another group to the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston.

At the David Hemery Valentine Invitational, hosted by Boston University, three Dukes upped previous top-10 all-time marks while the quad running the 4x400-meter relay broke into the top 10. Additionally, seven athletes qualified for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship meet next month.

Both runners in the 200-meter dash – sophomores De'Ana Forbes and Annie Johnson – improved previous top-10 finishes in the event, as Forbes moved into second place in the JMU history books with a time of 24.60 seconds to qualify for the ECAC meet. Her mark only trails Tanique Carter's mark of 23.98 in the event, which was set in 2009. Finishing the race in 24.89 seconds, Johnson now sits fourth all-time. She previously qualified for the ECAC meet last week at the Sykes & Sabock Challenge Cup in the event.

In the 400-meter dash, freshman Tyrah Burrow improved her best time to 57.77 seconds, which surpassed her previous best by nearly two tenths of a second. The mark keeps her 10th all-time in the event and is two tenths of a second behind Rashonda Roberson's ninth-place mark of 57.57 seconds. JMU's best finish in the 400-meter dash was posted by senior Destiny Simmons, who finished with a time of 57.66, her best time of the year.

The group of Forbes, Burrow, Johnson and Simmons became the first team in the 4x400-meter relay to post a top-10 all-time finish since 2012 after finishing in 3:50.37 to finish ninth in the event. The mark sits eighth all-time and was the first relay team for JMU to qualify for the ECAC meet this season.

Though not posting top-10 times, four other runners posted personal bests in their respective events Friday afternoon. Senior Morgan Sheaffer blasted her previous-best time of 1:17.16 in the 500-meter dash by more than two seconds in posting a time of 1:15.03 on Friday. Her previous mark was set at the Navy Invitational in 2012. She also qualified for the ECAC Championships with the finish.

Tessa Mundell also cruised past a previous best mark in the 3,000-meter run to get into the ECAC Championships, as the sophomore posted a mark of 9:52.36. Her previous best time in the event was 10:08.15, which was set earlier this year at the Navy Winter Invitational when she won the race.

In the 1,000-meter run, senior Kristen Landry and freshman Erica Gray each set personal bests, as Gray posted a time of 2:55.91 and Landry finished with a mark of 2:57.10. Though not setting a personal best, senior Tiel Westbrook had the best finish in the event for JMU with a time of 2:54.02 to set a season-best mark. She finished 10th overall while Gray placed 17th and Landry finished 26th. Both Gray and Westbrook earned a spot in the ECAC Championships while Landry finished less than one second above the standard.

In the 800-meter run, senior Kelsey Langton posted a season-best time of 2:11.33, finishing less than one second off her personal best time in the event of 2:10.71, which was set in 2013 at the Virginia Tech Challenge. Her mark places her in the field for the ECAC Championship meet next month.

In the Liberty Quad, junior Justice Seward set a new personal best in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.87 seconds. She finished fourth in the event. Her previous top time was 7.99 seconds, which was set at the 2013 edition of the George Mason Last Chance Meet. In her other event of the day, Seward finished third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.48, which fell one tenth of a second off her season-best time of 26.38 seconds set at the Kentucky Invitational earlier this year.

In the 400-meter dash, a trio of freshmen shined as Charlie Bell, Gina Bischof and Tiara Wellman each set personal records in the event. Bell ran a time of 1:01.63, besting her previous top mark of 1:01.64 by exactly one-hundredth of a second, which was done at the Kentucky Invitational. Wellman's time of 1:02.33 beat her previous time of 1:03.51 that was set last time she was in Lynchburg at the Liberty Open. Running the event for the first time, Bischof finished in 1:02.52. Bell, Wellman and Bischof finished fourth, fifth and sixth in the event, respectively.

Bischof also placed third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.42 in the finals. The mark is one hundredth of a second shy of her personal-best time of 9.41 set at the Kentucky Invitational. Senior Jasmine Waddell finished ahead of Bischof in second with a time of 8.92. VMI's Yaa Agyepong-Wiafe took first with a time of 8.913, beating Waddell by seven one-thousandths of a second.

Sophomore Ally Bodmer rounded out the season-best times set at the Liberty Quad with a mark of 10:42.83 in the 3,000-meter run, finishing fourth overall. Running the event once before at the Liberty Open last month, she finished the race in 10:47.97.

JMU returns to competition on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 20-21, in the final meet of the indoor season before the ECAC Championships with the Virginia Tech Challenge in Blacksburg, Virginia.