Multiple Eagles set personal bests at Hilton Garden Invitational

Robert Huitt

Top 10 finishes were difficult to come by for Georgia Southern University’s track and field team this weekend at the Hilton Garden Invitational.

Although the team did not get the results it may have wanted, multiple Eagles set personal records and head coach Marlo Mincey had a positive attitude about her team’s performance.

I feel like we did okay,” Mincey said. “Like I always say, we have things that we need to work on, and that’s never going to change, but all in all it was a pretty decent performance.”

Junior Dana Edwards got things started for the Eagles with a ninth place finish in the pentathlon. She accumulated 3043 points after the 5 events and broke her previous record by more than 300 points in the process.

Edwards’ sister, junior Deanna Edwards, was also able to set a new personal record in the 400-meter run event with a final time of 1:01.48 finishing 48th in a field of 78 participants.

Sophomore Kimberly Thomas and junior Cherrelle King competed alongside Deanna Edwards in the 400m run. Thomas crossed the finish line at 58.85 (11th) and King at 1:01.18 (38th).

The best result of the weekend for the Eagles came in the long jump where freshman Alyssa Felton finished fourth. Felton jumped 5.69m and achieved a personal best.

Freshmen Keyanna Harris and Taylor Johnson joined the party and also achieved personal bests in the high jump. Harris and Johnson finished 12th and 35th respectively after jumps of 1.62m and 1.42m.

Freshman Jami Joyner was busy on the second day of the tournament competing in the 800-meter run and the one-mile run. Joyner finished 52nd and 54th in the two events but was able to set a new personal record in the one-mile with a time of 5:44.92.

The tournament was held in Winston Salem N.C. at the JDL Fast Track. This is significant because this track will also host the Southern Conference Indoor Championships Saturday, Feb. 23 through Sunday, Feb. 24.

We come to this meet because we always want to give them the opportunity to preview the surface so they can kind of get familiar with it,” Mincey said.

Before the Eagles make a return trip to North Carolina, they will travel to Birmingham, Ala. to compete in the Samford Multi and Invitational on Feb. 8 through Feb. 9.