CHARLESTON, Ill. – Day one of the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference outdoor championships is in the books and Jacksonville State had plenty to feel good about following the first action.
The Gamecocks are yet to officially register a point in a championship, but only seven of the OVC's female teams have done so through the first set of events. Primarily a preliminaries day for multiple events, JSU saw several Gamecocks record qualifying times to advance to the finals.
Senior
Baylee Porch opened the day with a strong showing in the first portion of the heptathlon. After an eighth-place time in the 100h to begin the day, the Albertville, Ala., native, turned in consecutibe third-place finishes in the high jump, clearing 1.64 meters and the shot put, with a throw of 11.14 meters. She rounded out the final day one event with a personal record 26.21 in the 200-meter dash to stand third overall with 2,933 points. JSU freshmen
Carolina Minozzi who is also competing in the heptathlon also secured her 200m PR in the final event. She sits 15th with 1,767 points heading into the final three events on Friday.
The junior tandem of
Tylynn Register and
Ashton Coats, which has been so strong for JSU this spring in the hurdles, backed up their regular season with qualifying times in their 400-meter hurdle prelims. Register clocked a 1:03.75, while Coats cross the line at 1:04.66. They will start next to each other in Saturday's 400h finals. In the meantime, they will compete in Friday's 100h event.
JSU also heads to the finals in the 1,500 meter race after senior
Emily Sorrell's time of 4:51.08 in the prelims.
In the finals of the grueling 10,000-meter event, freshman
Sierra Wainer scored a top 10 in her debut race.
Friday will open with the conclusion of the women's heptathlon for JSU's first chance to put points on the board. Points will also be up for grabs as the finals roll around for events such as the pole vault, high jump and steeplechase.
After the first day of action, Belmont leads the women's standings with 33 points followed by host Eastern Illinois with 26, and Southeast Missouri with 18.
