May 16, 2015
Event: SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Day, Date: Thursday-Saturday, May 14-16
Host: Mississippi State (Starkville, Miss.)
Site: Mike Sanders Track Complex
Meet Home page: HERE
Schedule: HERE
Live Results: HERE
Viewing: SEC Network-Plus: HERE
Friday Photo gallery:
HERE
STARKVILLE, Miss. – The SEC Championships once again brought out the best in Simone Charley.
And the same was true for several of her teammates, too.
Competing on the final day of the three-day meet in soggy Starkville, Miss., Charley broke her own school record in the triple jump and earned a fourth-place finish with a leap of 43-7 on Saturday afternoon.
Hours later, in the final event of the meet, the Commodores set another school record when the 4×400 team comprised of Faith Washington, Skyler Carpenter, Courtney Clayton and Erin Edmond posted a time of 3:34.74 and finished fifth. The previous school record, set by the same foursome earlier this year, was 3:34.98.
In between the record-setting performances by Charley and the 4×400 team, the Commodores scored points in three additional events to cap off their strong showing at the three-day meet. Vanderbilt, which finished 11th overall, collected a total 25.33 points overall — a sizeable increaase from the 15 points the team scored last season.
“That was, hands down, the most competitive we have been at this meet during my time at Vanderbilt,” said head coach Steve Keith. “Virtually everyone who competed for us today scored points. And that’s huge. This was a great step for our program, and I really believe that people are starting to take note of what we are doing.” Â
The No. 1 ranked Arkansas women won the meet with 127.50 points, followed by Texas A&M with 104 and Kentucy 99.
Charley, an All-American from Hoover, Ala., shattered her pervious best of 43-2.50 (13.17) while scoring five points for the Commodores. It was the second consecutive year that she has broken her own school record at the meet and also represented the second straight year that she has scored at the SEC event. (She finished fifth last season).
Courtney Clayton, Sara Barron, Katherine Delaney and Carmen Carlos also scored points for the Commodores by finishing among the top eight in their respective events during Saturday’s action, which was interruped twice by severe weather in the area.
Clayton ran to a sixth-place finish in the 800 with a time of 2:06.62 to earn three points. Her performance came just two days after she established a new school record in the event by posting a time of 2:05.52 during Thursday’s preliminaries.
Barron scored four points Saturday with a fifth-place finish in the 1500 at 4:22.51 and Delaney scored one point by taking eighth with a personal-best time of 4:24.55. Delaney’s time, which ranks as the No. 10 mark on VU’s all-time list, eclisped her previous personal best of 4:25.10 that she set on Friday during the preliminaries.
Carmen used a terrific finishing kick to take sixth in the 5K with huge PR of 16:31.48. Carmen, who earned three points for the Commodores, moved up to No. 8 on VU’s all-time list while easily beating her previous best of 16:39.28 that she set earlier this month.Â
Next up for the Commodores is the NCAA Regionals. Vanderbilt is expected to have several representatives at the meet when the official list of qualifiers is announced early next week.
Check back later for more on the meet, including more comments from Keith.
VANDERBILT RESULTS
Saturday
Triple Jump
4- Simone Charley – 43-7 (13.28m)
17- Tierney Price- 39-2.25 (11.94m)
1500
5 – Sara Barron- 4:22.51
8 – Katherine Delaney – 4:24.55
800
6 – Courtney Clayton - 2:06.62
5000
5 – Carmen Carlos - 16:31.48
26 – Vanessa Valentine - 17:11.07
4×400
5 -Â Vanderbilt – 3:34.74
Friday
Heptathlon
11 – Sarah Goodale – 5065
Pole Vault
8 – Sarah Bell – 13-1.75 (4.01m)
T14 – Megan McCabe –
1500
7 – Katherine Delaney – 4:25.10
8 – Sara Barron – 4:25.44
15 – Courtney Kriegshauser – 4:29.11
17 – Lily Williams – 4:30.44
20 – Maddie Criscione – 4:35.43
25 – Reagan Anderson – 4:38.06
26 – Meagan Huebner – 4:38.16
High Jump
11 – Ellie Tidman – 5-7 (1.70m)
400
14 – Erin Edmond – 54.72
Steeplechase
7 – Rebecca Chandler – 10:35.04
Thursday
Women’s 800
3 – Courtney Clayton – 2:05.52
11 – Maddie Criscione – 2:09.61
15 – Reagan Anderson – 2:12.42
Women’s 200
27 – Erin Edmond – 24.69
Women’s 400 Hurdles
12 – Skyler Carpenter – 59.77
13 – Faith Washington – 1:00.03
19 – Emma Radan – 1:02.04
Women’s 1000-meter
6 – Vanessa Valentine – 35:34.41
13 – Claire Benjamin – 36:48.33
