JMU Invitational Filled with Top Performances for Dukes

Saturday, April 18

Harrisonburg, Va.

All Day

James Madison University

JMU Invitational

4/18/2015 11:37:00 PM | Track & Field

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Numerous ECAC and personal marks fell as James Madison hosted the 2015 JMU Invitational on a sunny, 80-degree afternoon at University Park. The Dukes scored 185 points to win the four-team event and were followed by Navy (177.50), Marshall (137.50) and Richmond (81).

In the evening distance session of the meet, the Dukes got big performances from sophomore Carol Strock and junior Kathleen Stewart. In the 800-meter run, Strock knocked three seconds off her personal record (PR) to achieve an ECAC-qualifying time of 2:10.50. Immediately after in the 1,500-meter, Stewart also hit a personal and ECAC benchmark with a time of 4:34.24.

The day started with the 4x100-meter relay achieving its best time of the season as the Dukes beat the ECAC mark for the second week in a row. The team of sophomore De'Ana Forbes, sophomore Annie Johnson, freshman Aereale Scott and sophomore Kennedy King finished first in 46.31 seconds.

Johnson later achieved a PR with an ECAC-qualifying time of 24.65 seconds to win the 200-meter dash with King right behind in 24.80 seconds. She was also second in the 100 (12.13 seconds) with Forbes winning the event in 12.09 seconds, just 0.01 shy of an ECAC time. Forbes and junior Justice Seward (12.57) each hit a personal best in the 100.

Forbes also continued to be steady in the 100 hurdles, posting an ECAC time of 14.19 seconds to win the event. The Dukes claimed each of the top three spots with senior Jasmine Waddell second with an ECAC time of 14.23 seconds as well as Scott third in 14.63 seconds.

In the 400-meter dash, freshman Tyrah Burrow continued her progression with slight improvements each time out this spring as she won the event with a PR of 56.13, narrowing in on an ECAC mark. JMU claimed each of the top four spots in the race with senior Destiny Simmons second in 57.01 seconds, senior Kelsey Langton third (57.94) and Sheaffer fourth (58.10).

Freshman Nicole Goff made a hard push in the final 200 meters of the 3,000-meter run to push ahead and register her first career win in 10:28.21. Sophomore Ally Bodmer preceded that race with a PR of her own in the 3,000 steeplechase in 11:55.52.

Sophomore Morgan Crewe cleared her best height of the season in the high jump to finish first at 1.65 meters. Junior Nicole Rossi matched her PR with a jump of 1.55.

In the pits, sophomore Ebony Owusu-Sampah won the long jump with a leap of 5.86 meters followed by King in second at 5.55. In the triple jump, sophomore Nia Jones achieved a PR of 11.55 meters.

JMU ran two squads in the 4x400-meter relay with the two separated by just three tenths of a second. The team of senior Kristen Landry, Langton, Sheaffer and senior Tiel Westbrook edged out freshman Charlie Bell, freshman Madeleine McCarty, Scott and sophomore Abby Duncan with a time of 4:00.414 compared to 4:00.72.

James Madison will have its final tuneup for the 2015 Colonial Athletic Association Championships when the Dukes compete next weekend in the Penn Relays in Philadelphia.