Ready, Set, SECs

Vanderbilt women’s track and field to compete in the SEC outdoor championships

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt women’s track and field team will travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to compete in the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships Thursday-Saturday.

A total of 24 student-athletes will represent the Commodores at this weekend’s conference championships—freshmen Mackenzie Culpepper, Mya Georgiadis, Sarah Marvin, Allyria McBride, Giavonna Meeks and Santana Spearman, sophomores Emma Curry, Ella Escobar, Cameron Fawcett and Julia Rosenberg, juniors Nicole Anderson, Joslin Blair, Veronica Fraley and Lainey Phelps, seniors Kaira Brown, Caroline Eck, Madison Fuller, Madison Murray, Niki Narayani and Jada Sims, and graduate students Beatrice Juskeviciute, Brooke Overholt, Taiya Shelby and Haley Walker.

Over the course of the outdoor track and field season, the team has reset a total of six school records, boasted 29 marks ranking on the program’s all-time performer lists and recorded countless season and personal bests.

Three Vanderbilt athletes are entering the SEC championships ranked in the top 25 in the NCAA in their events.

Fraley leads the SEC and is ranked fourth in the NCAA in the discus with a throw of 60.24 meters. She was undefeated in the event during the regular outdoor season. In the shot put, Fraley ranks fifth in the SEC and 16th in the NCAA. She was named SEC Co-Field Athlete of the Week after winning the shot put and discus at the Indiana Invitational. Fraley holds the Vanderbilt record in the discus and is ranked No. 2 in program history in the shot put. She is scheduled to compete in both events this weekend.

Shelby enters the competition ranked sixth in the SEC and 24th in the NCAA in the 800 meters and ninth in the SEC and 22nd in the NCAA in the 400 meters. On Friday, she will compete in the 400-meter prelims. She won the event at the Music City Challenge with a time of 51.87 seconds and is No. 2 on Vanderbilt’s all-time performer list with a time of 51.45 seconds. She is a two-time Second-Team All-American and competed at the 2022 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships in the 400 meters.

Juskeviciute currently ranks seventh in the world in the heptathlon, leading the SEC and ranking third in the NCAA with a score of 6,073 points. She broke the previous school record by 546 points at the Mt. SAC Relays where she claimed a third-place finish. Juskeviciute holds the school record in the javelin and ranks in the program’s top 10 in the shot put, long jump, 200 meters and 100-meter hurdles. She is a two-time First-Team All-American and two-time Ivy League conference champion in the event.

Two other Dores are scheduled to compete in the heptathlon this weekend, Sims and Murray. Both athletes recorded personal-best scores at the Joe Walker Invitational where Sims finished second with a score of 5,319 points and Murray finished eighth, scoring 4,741 points. Sims is ranked fifth in the SEC entering the weekend. At last year’s conference championships, she scored for the Commodores, finishing seventh in the heptathlon with a score of 4,928 points.

Throws athletes Meeks and Marvin will be competing this weekend in Baton Rouge. Meeks is set to compete in the hammer throw, shot put and discus. She set the school record in the hammer throw at the 60.77-meter mark and ranks in the program’s top 10 in the shot put and discus. Marvin is entered to compete in the shot put and discus. She recorded eight top-10 finished across both events during the regular outdoor season and ranks in the top 10 in Vanderbilt history in both events.

McBride, Georgiadis and Overholt are set to compete in the 400-meter hurdles. McBride is the third-ranked freshman and 12th overall in the SEC and is the fifth-ranked freshman in the NCAA heading into this weekend’s meet. She is fourth on the school’s all-time performer list with a time of 57.88 seconds. Overholt and Georgiadis hold the No. 7 and No. 8 spots on this list with times of 58.68 seconds and 58.99 seconds, respectively.

At the Music City Challenge, Spearman and Escobar recorded PRs in their events. Spearman finished second in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.63 seconds, moving up to No. 4 in school history. Escobar clocked 11.89 seconds in the 100-meter prelims, tying for fourth in Vanderbilt history. Both athletes are scheduled to compete in their respective events at the SEC championships.

Eck recorded a 17-second PR in the 5,000 meters at the Mt. SAC Relays, finishing with a time of 16:12.14. On Saturday, she will run the 5,000 meters in Baton Rouge. She will be joined by Narayani, who scored at the 2023 SEC indoor championships in the 5,000 meters, finishing fifth.

The Commodores will be bringing two relay teams to Louisiana. At the Music City Challenge, the 4×100-meter relay team of Fuller, Taylor McKinnon, Escobar and McBride finished second and turned in the second fastest time in Vanderbilt history. Anderson, Fuller, Escobar and McBride will represent Vanderbilt in the 4×100-meter relay at the SEC outdoor championships. The 4×400-meter relay, McBride, Overholt, Brown and Shelby won their race at the Music City Challenge and recorded the No. 3 time in school history. This same combination of athletes is set to compete at the conference championships on Saturday.

The Vanderbilt women’s track and field team will begin its competition in Baton Rouge at noon when Juskeviciute, Murray and Sims kick off the heptathlon competition with the 100-meter hurdles.

How to Watch
The SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be live streamed.

Thursday noon (SECN+)
Thursday 5:30 p.m. (SECN+)
Friday 11:30 a.m. (SECN+)
Friday 5 p.m. (SECN+)
Saturday 2 p.m. (SECN+)
Saturday 5 p.m. (SECN)