NW Tennessee News

The University of Tennessee at Martin track and field programs capped off the indoor portion of the season with a strong showing at the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship held at the Birmingham Metro CrossPlex.

UT Martin was strong throughout the meet as the squads won two events in the men's DMR and women's high jump while featuring five podium finishes. Additionally, the Skyhawks rewrote the program record books by setting seven school records in the women's DMR, men's mile, women's 60m hurdles, women's 60m dash, men's 400m dash, men's heptathlon and women's pentathlon.

The Skyhawk men's program finished fifth amongst OVC squads with 60 total points while the women's team came in eighth with 25 points. Eastern Illinois won the men's team title with 177.5 points, edging Little Rock by 17.5 points. Meanwhile, Southeast Missouri claimed the women's championship with 183.5 points by a wide margin.

Medalists

• For the second straight championship, the men's distance medley relay team of Cole Davis, John Collin Askew, Hudson Hall and Luke McNair won the event championship. The squad posted a time of 10:03.15 to run away with the title by a margin of over six seconds.
• Freshman JaDerrika Welch-Fields scored the first points of the championship for the Skyhawks by winning the women's high jump with a distance of 1.68 meters. The mark set a new PR for the newcomer to claim her first career OVC medal and 10 points for the Skyhawks.
• Junior MJ Jackson got the Skyhawk men on the board Wednesday afternoon with a runner-up finish in the men's long jump to secure his first OVC medal in his career and eight points for the team. Jackson finished just 0.01 meters off the event leader after posting his best mark of 7.51m on his third attempt.
• Sophomore Will Cahill picked up his second OVC Indoor Championship medal of his career after finishing third in the men's 5k with a time of 14:27.33. With his performance, he secured the Skyhawks six points.
• Cahill then added his second OVC medal of the championship on Thursday afternoon, posting a time of 8:24.22 to finish third in the men's 3k while picking up six points for the squad.

School Records

• The women's DMR team of Rita Eimer, Janay Chapman, Maggie Roy and Lydia Tankersley broke the program record with a fourth-place finish at the OVC Championships. Their time of 12:02.92 shattered the previous mark by over 16 seconds to earn the Skyhawks five points.
• Skyhawk graduate Luke McNair set a new program record in the men's mile with a time of 4:10.12, besting his own record set a couple weeks ago by 0.67 seconds. His time finished fifth in the field, claiming four points for the Skyhawks.
• Sophomore Lisha McKenzie broke a 21-year school record with her performance in the women's 60m hurdles. McKenzie posted a time of 8.98 seconds, besting the previous mark set by UT Martin Hall of Famer Tymikia Gunn in 2002 by 0.08 seconds.
• Junior Janay Chapman set a new program record in the women's 60m dash with a time of 7.74 seconds. Her time broke the previous record by 0.03 seconds set back in 2019.
• Senior Jamire Thompson broke his own school record in the men's heptathlon with 3,577 points which ranked seventh in the field. His total bested his previous record by 65 points and added two points to the team score.
• Sophomore Khalid White put his name in the Skyhawk record book by breaking the school record in the men's 400m dash with a time of 49:07 to finish sixth and earn three points. His time ranked 0.28 seconds faster than the previous mark set in 2019.
• Freshman JaDerrika Welch-Fields set a new program benchmark in the women's pentathlon with a point total of 2701.

Point Scorers

• The Skyhawk men's 4x400m relay team of Khalid White, Maluke Cluver, Ja'Kobe Ward and John Collin Askew narrowly missed out on a podium finish and a school record after posting a time of 3:20.8. With the team, the Skyhawks finished fifth and claimed four points.
• Redshirt-freshman Lydia Tankersley added four points for the Skyhawks in the women's mile run with a time of 5:01.55 to finish in fourth place – just off the podium.
• Senior Brady Fry continued his career success in the 60m hurdles at the OVC Championships by earning points for the Skyhawks in his fourth straight championship field. Fry finished fifth in the finals with a time of 8.30 seconds to claim four points for the squad.
• After medaling in the long jump on Wednesday, MJ Jackson returned to action on Thursday and finished sixth in the men's triple jump with a distance of 14.87m to claim three points.
• Sophomore Rita Eimer earned three points for the Skyhawks in the women's 800m run with a time of 2:20.4 to finish sixth overall.
• Graduate Luke McNair scored for the Skyhawks in his third event of the championship with a sixth-place finish in the men's 3k – posting a time of 8:28.87.
• Sophomore Darius Holland scored two points for the Skyhawks in the men's long jump with a seventh-place finish, posting his best mark of the event on his fifth attempt for 7.11m.
• Freshman Bryce Sparks earned a spot in the finals of the men's 60m hurdles and finished seventh with a mark of 8.43 seconds and earn two points for the squad.
• Junior Hawken Foote finished seventh in the men's 800m run with a time of 1:54.77 to secure two points.
• Junior Lilia Alvarez joined in the scoring action in the women's mile by posting a time of 5:08.94 to finish in eighth place and secure a point for the Skyhawks.
• Junior Cole Davis also added to the team's point in the men's mile with an eighth-place finish after boasting a time of 4:17.20.
• The Skyhawk women's 4x400m relay team of Alaina Gordon, Renee Blades, Janay Chapman and JaDerrika Welch-Fields finished eighth in the event to claim one point for the squad with a time of 3:59.41.

Original source can be found here