Williams, Turner, Brannon Take Home Event Titles at Samford

Friday, January 22

Birmingham, Ala.

Western Kentucky University

Samford Invite #1

1/22/2021 7:46:00 PM | Track & Field

BIRMINGHAM – WKU Track & Field's Alexis Williams, Grace Turner and Brett Brannon earned individual event titles on Saturday at the Samford Invitational at the Birmingham Crossplex. Across the whole day, the Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers recorded 18 top-five finishes, including the four victories from the trio.

"I was very pleased with the team's effort today coming off a short one-week turnaround," said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Brent Chumbley. "We should be back at full strength in two weeks when we return to action again in Birmingham."

Leading the squad was sophomore Williams who won both the 60-meter and 200-meter women's races. Coming out of the 60-meter preliminaries, the Fayetteville, Ga., native led all three heats of qualifying with a 7.61 mark. Her final race of 7.49 is the fourth-fastest in indoor Lady Topper history as she bested every other women's 60-meter time of the day by at least 0.15 seconds.

Williams also won the 200-meter with a time of 24.51. Her times in both the 60 and 200 lead Conference USA. The 60-meter mark is ranked 20^th in the nation while her 200-meter time is ranked 27^th.

"It was great to see Alexis come into her own as a sprinter," said sprints coach Tosha Ansley. "Her wins were great. With a 7.49 as her second time truly running the 60, I'm really pleased with that. As far as her 200 goes, it was okay, but it could've been even better. It was a solid start for her, and now we're just getting ready for the rest of the season."

Sophomore pole vaulter Turner won the women's event with a mark of 3.70 meters, currently ranking second in C-USA. This is her second collegiate pole vaulting win after notching a PR and victory at the Marshall Invitational in 2020.

"Grace picked up a good win today in the pole vault," said Chumbley. "We took some good attempts at a new PR, but it just didn't happen for her today. I was very happy with her mental approach and I'm excited for the next two weeks of training."

Wrapping up the individual victories was Brannon in the weight throw. The junior recorded a significant personal record, saving his best throw for the last of his six attempts. His mark of 16.91 meters currently ranks third in C-USA. Teammate Kaison Barton finished just behind him in third in his first time competing in weight throw.

"The men's throw group saw several PRs today," said Chumbley. "The biggest move of the day was Brett (Brannon). He had a major PR going from last week's 16.14 to 16.91, and he got his first collegiate win. Kaison (Barton) competed in weight throw for the first time and had a solid 16.04-meter throw for third. He also had another shotput PR for the second week in a row."

The rest of WKU squad sported 14 other top-five finishes. The Hilltopper sprinting trio of Dartez Hamlin, Marlowe Mosley and Elliott Bryant were three of the top five in the 60-meter finals. Bryant won his individual heat before finishing fifth while Mosley went on to a new PR of 6.987 and a third-place finish. Hamlin was between the two in fourth at 6.989 seconds. Hamlin and Mosley finished second and third, respectively, in the 200-meter as well.

"They still need a little work here and there. I'm glad they're going to have this coming week off in order to get some good training in and get ready for the rest of the season," said Ansley on the crew. "They saw where their weaknesses were, and we just will go from there. It was good to see them back on the track again. Every weekend that we can run and stay healthy, as much as we can, is a good thing. I'm just looking forward to what we can do as the season progresses."

The distance and mid-distance squad also saw some improvement from last week's season opener to Friday at Samford. Senior Savannah Heckman led the women with a seventh-place finish in the 3000-meter and a 10^th-place finish in the mile. Junior Dedrick Troxell returned to the track with three races, finishing fifth in the 800 and sixth in the mile. Teammate Emerson Wells logged PRs in the mile and 3000-meter while finishing fifth in the latter.

"Our focus right now is simply to race aggressively for as long as we can," said assistant coach Brooks LeCompte. "I want them to get uncomfortable early and learn to adapt. As the year goes on, I expect most to continue to improve as some of them did this weekend. The girls have a ways to go to be competitive in this conference, but the guys ran well despite missing a few runners."

WKU will take two weeks off competition before traveling back to Birmingham for the Jaguar Invitational hosted by South Alabama on Sunday, February 7.

Women's Results
60m
1^st after prelims – Alexis Williams – 7.61
9^th after prelims – Samyzia Sears – 8.00
1^st after finals – Alexis Williams – 7.49, fourth in school history*
200m
1^st – Alexis Williams – 24.51
5^th – Samyzia Sears – 25.96*
800m
17^th – Maddy Hurt – 2:36.17
1 mile
10^th – Savannah Heckman – 5:22.80
14^th – Maddy Hurt – 5:34.85
15^th – Lucy Rutherford – 5:40.65
18^th – Zoe Manning – 6:02.12
3000m
7^th – Savannah Heckman – 10:49.71
13^th – Maddy Hurt – 11:26.04*
14^th – Zoe Manning – 11:39.68*
5000m
2^nd – Zoe Manning – 20:17.56
Weight Throw
9^th – Mary Claire Redden – 13.06m*
Pole Vault
1^st – Grace Turner – 3.70m
10^th – Nikki Ogorek – 3.25m
11^th – Allison Ferguson – 3.10m

Men's Results
60m
2^nd after prelims – Dartez Hamlin – 6.97
5^th after prelims – Elliott Bryant – 7.02, won individual heat
7^th after prelims – Marlowe Mosley – 7.03
3^rd after finals – Marlowe Mosley – 6.99 (6.987)*
4^th after finals – Dartez Hamlin – 6.99 (6.989)
5^th after finals – Elliott Bryant – 7.00*
200m
2^nd – Dartez Hamlin – 21.75
3^rd – Marlowe Mosley – 21.87
7^th – Elliott Bryant – 22.40
10^th – Jonathan Allen – 22.65*
800m
5^th – Dedrick Troxell – 1:59.57
1 mile
6^th – Dedrick Troxell – 4:16.70
12^th – Emerson Wells – 4:26.68*
3000m
5^th – Emerson Wells – 8:43.62*
8^th – Will Perrone – 9:35.26
5000m
5^th – Will Perrone – 16:27.04
Shot Put
5th – John Elam – 14.83m
3^rd – Kaison Barton – 15.69m*
Weight Throw
1^st – Brett Brannon – 16.91m*
3^rd – Kaison Barton – 16.04m*
7^th – Joel Dittoe – 14.50m
Pole Vault
5^th – Devon Montgomery – 4.55m

*signifies collegiate PR