SALEM, Va. – Jacksonville State wrapped up its final December indoor tune-up of the season on Saturday at the Bast Cregger Invitational in Salem, Virginia.
The weekend's slate featured pentathlon and distance medley relay action on Friday, followed by the remaining track events on Saturday.
In Friday's pentathlon competition, senior
Carolina Minozzi shined with a third-place finish scoring a personal best 3290 points. In the 12-competitor field, Minozzi scored top five in every event, including winning the 60-meter hurdles with a school pentathlon record 9.06 seconds and taking the top spot in the long jump with a distance of 17'6¼". Three of her events make Jax State's top 10 list.
"Carolina's performance in the pentathlon was exciting to watch," said head coach Jeremy Provence. "Credit goes to the work she has put in this fall. Also, Coach Sousa has done a great job preparing her for such a performance."
Freshman Chaci Whitfield came home sixth in the pentathlon (2679), followed by teammate Jadyn Bonds in ninth-place with 1045 points.
On the track, Jax State won the team distance medley relay with
Lindsay Fletcher,
Breanna Becerra, Emma Drinkard and
Bethelhem Manzano Jimeno covering the 4000 collective meters in 12:30.49.
The Gamecocks returned on Saturday to earn a second-place team finish in the 4x400 relay clocking a 4:01.10 mark with Becerra, Drinkard, Amber Bailey and
Hailey Tucker.
"We also ran well in both the relays. They were challenged and I thought the team put their best foot forward and competed hard to the finish. It was a good starting point as we determine the individuals that will carry the baton at the conference meet."
Becerra and Bailey also starred in the 400-meter dash where Becerra took gold with a time of 1:00.24, just ahead of Bailey's fourth-place run in 1:02.36.
Tucker would also score top 10's with ninth-place times in both the 60 meters dash and 60-meter hurdles. Her final 60-meter semifinal time came in at 8.10, while her 60m hurdles ran 9.60.
In the 60-meter hurdles semifinals, freshman Maggie Jones advanced with a time of 9.43, which she trimmed down to 9.37 in the finals for a third-place podium finish.
Getting in a couple meets before Christmas break is huge for this group. It gives us some marks to reflect on moving forward. Also, with a fairly young squad, the experience of competing in a collegiate meet is extremely valuable as we prepare for the rest of season."
The Gamecocks resume indoor action on January 19 at the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville, Tenn.
