OXFORD, Miss. – Jacksonville State continued its growth in the outdoor track and field season over the weekend at the Ole Miss Classic in Oxford, Miss.
 
In addition to multiple personal bests, the Gamecocks saw strong performances from senior Ashton Coats and freshman Breanna Becerra. Coats added the 100 and 200-meter events to her regular hurdle lineup, running new bests in each including a 25.97 to lead all Gamecocks in the 200.
 
"It was really good to see Ashton have a strong performance in the hurdles, said JSU head coach Coach Jeremy Provence. "Sousa has done a great job of refining her hurdle technique while running fast. Ashton made the adjustments from last week and looked great late in the race. Let's not forget about her PBs this weekend, she is running fast and starting to find her stride in the hurdles."
 
In longest distance, Becerra finished fifth in the 400 meters clocking a time of 58.13.

"Bre had a really positive run in the 400, she started strong and competed late. She has looked great in workouts so it is definitely good to see her trust in the work she has done and go for it in competition. Bre is a fierce competitor with a lot of potential, so needless to say it is exciting to her gain some confidence in a strong performance."
Also on the track, Elsa Chan and Bethelhem Manzano Jimeno turned in top 20 time of 4:50.97 and 4:54.44 taking on the challenge of a varying distance from their primary event.

"Big (new bests) for Elsa and Beth in the 1500. Both were racing down from their main event and Elsa was definitely out of her comfort zone, but they both ran aggressive and looked strong. They gained a lot from this experience, which will help them the rest of season."
 
Freshman Lydia Seals followed up her debut with another strong showing in the javelin throw with a distance of 39.79 meters for a fourth-place finish. Gamecocks also saw new personal bests in Savannah Yate's 3.48 meter height in the pole vault to match teammate Lennon Ibsen and Kirsen Gardner set a new in the hammer with a toss of 36.88 meters.