Dukes Finish Ninth at Sun Belt Outdoor Championships

Saturday, May 13

Myrtle Beach, S.C.

12 P.M.

James Madison University

Sun Belt Outdoor Championships

5/13/2023 10:00:00 PM | Track & Field

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – James Madison track & field registered 39 points for ninth place at the Sun Belt Championships this weekend at the Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium. Arkansas State took home the team title with 144 points, while Texas State was second (107), and South Alabama (97) third.

The Dukes scored 20 points on the final day of competition, highlighted by a bronze effort from the 4x100-meter relay crew of freshman Kadence Wilson, and sophomores Sofia Lavreshina, Virginia Keys, and Holly Mpassy. The quartet finished in 3:42.22, the fourth-fastest time in program history. Additionally, Mpassy ran the anchor leg in 54.35.

How it Happened
Track Events

Sophomore Sofia Lavreshina earned our points for the Dukes, placing fifth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.14.
Junior Miranda Stanhope took sixth in the 5,000-meter race in 16:56.52. In total, Stanhope contributed nine points for JMU at the league title meet.
Mpassy returned to the track for the 400-meter dash where she clocked in at 55.59 for seventh.

Field Events

Graduate student Skyla Davidson and junior Jordan Venning took seventh (12.29) and eighth (12.17m) in the triple jump, respectively. For Venning, her mark was an outdoor personal best. Moreover, the junior came into the competition with the 12th-best mark in the conference.
Sophomores Ryann Bennett and Jaiden Martellucci both threw 41.33m in the discus to lead the first flight, but the marks were not enough to make the finals.
In the high jump, freshman Gracen King cleared 1.60m to set an outdoor PR.

Relay Events

The 4x100-meter relay crew of sophomore Kaia Putman, freshman Asia Powell, and sophomores Virginia Keys and Holly Mpassy recorded a seventh-place finish in 46.33.

Team Scores
1. Arkansas State 144
2. Texas State 107
3. South Alabama 97
4. Southern Miss 80.5
5. Coastal Carolina 77
6. Marshall 69.5
7. Louisiana 67.5
8. ULM 64.5
9. James Madison 39
10. App State 28
11. Georgia Southern 27
12. Troy 15
13. Georgia State 13

Quoting Director Delethea Quarles
"I'm very proud of our team's effort at this championship. They had to embrace a year of many changes and challenges that I felt they handled well. Although we fell short of improving our team finish from indoors, we left this meet inspired to move up for next year. After eight remarkable months with a new staff, I feel certain this team will come back better. The Sun Belt is an amazing, competitive conference that we are looking forward to being back better. We are proud of the consistency with our top scorers Shelby Staib, Miranda Stanhope, Skyla Davidson, Laura Webb, Holly Mpassy, Sofia Lavreshina, and the 4x400-meter team with Kadence Wilson, Lavreshina, Virginia Keys, and Mpassy. Keep your eyes on both Shelby and Skyla as they move on to the first round of the NCAA Championships in Jacksonville!"

Up Next
The Dukes will wait to see who will qualify for the NCAA East Preliminaries, which will be announced on Thursday. The regional meet takes place May 24-27 in Jacksonville, Fla., hosted by North Florida.