NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt track and field student-athletes recorded six first-place finishes, breaking three school records and registering seven program all-time top 10 marks on Day 1 of the Music City Challenge.
On the field, the Commodores swept the invite and open sections of both the high jump and long jump. Janie Ford won the open high jump with a 1.71-meter clearance, a mark that is tied for 10th in program history. In the invite division of the high jump, Cali Bryant, who won the event, and Mackenzie Dagrosa cleared the 1.78-meter bar and are now tied for third in Vanderbilt history.
In the long jump, Kayleigh Stargell recorded a personal-best mark of 5.85 meters to win the open section, while Lena Gooden jumped 6.29 meters to take first in the invite division. Stargell is now tied for seventh in program history in the event.
All six Commodores won their preliminary heats to advance to the 60-meter hurdles semifinals. Falon Spearman led all qualifiers with a time of 8.20 seconds. Santana Spearman finished second in the prelims, clocking 8.36 seconds. Taylor McKinnon, Ford, Marta Sivina and Devyn Parham placed fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth with respective times of 8.39, 8.49, 8.49 and 8.51 seconds.
Four Vanderbilt student-athletes, London Jackson-Bray, Alima Kassim, Danielle Duning and Parham, qualified for the 60 meters semifinals. Jackson-Bray and Kassim both turned in times of 7.59 seconds to place eighth and ninth, respectively. Dunning clocked 7.65 seconds to finish 15th, and Parham ran a personal-best time of 7.70 seconds to earn 19th place.
Lily Kriegel notched a runner-up finish in the mile, turning in a personal-best time of 4:41.39 to improve her No. 5-ranked time in the program’s record books. In the same event, Betsy Jepkemei finished first among freshmen and seventh overall with a time of 4:47.32, a personal best.
Vanderbilt’s men’s cross country crew broke a pair of school records on Friday. Brady Bliven set the program record in the mile with a time of 4:03.41, coming in ninth place. In the 5,000 meters, Luke Churchwell registered a time of 14:24.22, which is a 10-second personal best and the Vanderbilt record.
To end the evening, Ford took down the school record in the 200 meters, clocking 23.37 seconds to win the event. F. Spearman and Kassim earned top 5 finished, both recording a time of 24.37 seconds. The Dore duo is now tied for 10th all-time at Vanderbilt.
The Music City Challenge continues Saturday beginning at 10:15 a.m. with the men’s 3,000 meters. Action is streamed on SEC Network+, and live results are available online.
