Jan. 29, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – On day one of the Rod McCravy Invitational, senior pole vaulter Joanna Wright impressed, breaking her own school record with an outstanding height of 4.30m (14-1.75) and recording an NCAA automatic qualifying mark with the country’s fifth best pole vault in the 2011 indoor season.
Wright’s victory was her fourth-straight to begin the 2011 season and second-straight at the University of Kentucky this year.
The Jackets earned 13 top-10 finishes at the meet, nine in field events and four on the track.
Also seeing success on the weekend was Melanie Akwule in the 60-meter hurdles. Akwule made the cut for the finals with a fourth place, 8.54 second preliminary time. She improved upon that time by two-tenths of a second to move up to third place in the finals with a time of 8.34 seconds, a season best. Perron Jones also continued to impress in the 60m dash this time earning a 10th place showing with a time of 6.86 seconds.
Tech recorded three of their top-10 finishes in the triple jump as Julienne McKee and Jhanelle McLeod took fourth (12.46m, season best) and fifth (12.33m) respectively while Jonathan Gardner finished in eighth place with a jump of 14.19 meters.
In the high jump, Bianca Stewart launched herself to a fourth place showing with a height of 1.71m, a season best, while on the men’s side, Mykhail Chambers continued his steady success with a fifth place finish and 2.04 meter height.
Tech’s distance runners also did well on the day as D.J. McMillan impressed in his first attempt at the 3000m run this season with his fourth place, 8:22.86 finish. Shawn Roberts added another top-10 finish with a 4:10.36 time in the mile run earlier in the meet.
The Jackets will be back in action next Friday and Saturday, February 4 and 5 at the Virginia Tech Elite Invitational in Blacksburg, Va.
