Sunday, February 28, 2016

CHAMPIONS! TSU Tigerbelles Capture Fifth OVC Indoor Championship

NASHVILLE, Tennessee Powered by nine top three individual finishes on Saturday at the Gentry Center, the Tennessee State women’s track and field team earned its fifth Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Championship, besting the field with 124 points. TSU Head Coach Chandra Cheeseborough-Guice won her fifth OVC Indoor Coach of the Year award on the women’s side on the day.
 
The Tigerbelles, which also won the OVC Indoor Championship in 2002, 2003, 2008 and 2014, finished 25 points ahead of Eastern Illinois in second place with 99 points.
 


Amber Hughes (Atlanta, Ga.) won three individual gold medals on the day, posting first-place finishes in the 200m (24.16), 55m hurdles (7.62) and triple jump (13.35m). She tacked on a fourth-place performance in the 55m (6.96). 
 
Hughes set a new meet record in the triple jump with a distance of 13.35m, tying for the fourth-best in Division I this season. The effort tops her previous career best of 13.29m from the Gladstein Invitational. The previous meet record was 13.00m by SIUE’s Jatavia Wright in 2014.
 
In the Tigerbelles’ other top finish on the day, the 4x400m relay team turned in a record-setting first place time of 3:42.35. Hughes teamed with Clairwin Dameus (Boynton Beach, Fla.), Kayla Pryor (Ellenwood, Ga.) and Christian Pryor (Ellenwood, Ga.) to break the old OVC Indoor Championship record time of 3:42.73 set by TSU in 2014.
 
Dameus added crucial points to TSU’s total by winning silver medals in the 55m (6.95) and the 55m hurdles (7.68) to equal 16 points.
 
Helping the Tigerbelles complete the sweep in the triple jump, Amber Townsend (Atlanta, Ga.) captured the silver medal with a jump of 12.53m, while Cyra Beard (Jackson, Tenn.) took home the bronze in third place (12.43m). The jumps were both new personal records for Townsend and Beard.  
Crystal Williams (Gainesville, Fla.) added another medal, winning bronze in the 55m hurdles (7.95), while Christian Pryor gave TSU five points thanks to her fourth place finish in the 800m (2:13.40). The time was the best of Pryor’s indoor career.
 
COMPLETE RESULTS
PHOTO GALLERY - BY SAM JORDAN
PHOTO GALLERY - BY KATHERINE SEGHERS
 
OVC INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
1) Tennessee St. 124

2) Eastern Illinois 99
3) Eastern Kentucky 74
4) Murray State 68
5) Austin Peay 63
6) SE Missouri 56
7) SIU-Edwardsville 53
8) Tennessee Tech 49
9) Jacksonville St. 47
10) Belmont 30
 
 COURTESY TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

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