JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An eventful second day at the Hampton Inn River City Relays came to a close for the Vanderbilt track and field team with one school record falling and seven additional entries being made to the Commodore record books.
Elizabeth Bailey set the tone for what the day would bring as she blew away the field to win javelin. She steadily improved her distance on each throw, sitting in first with a mark of 49.64 meters heading into her sixth, and final, attempt. Then, on that throw, she posted a distance of 51.38 meters, breaking her own school record and becoming the first Commodore to cross the 50-meter mark.
Rowan Houston and Pryncess Jackson took first and second in the high jump, both clearing 1.70 meters. Houston was able to get over the bar height on her first attempt while Jackson did it on her third, giving Houston the edge in the tiebreaker. The 1.70-meter mark moved both athletes into a tie for eighth in program history.
Another field top-10 mark was set in triple jump as Anya Carey moved into seventh on the all-time list with a distance of 11.76 meters. Carey finished fourth in the event, just 0.6 meters from a podium finish.
The day’s action then turned to the track where the 4×100-meter relay team of London Jackson Bray, Danielle Dunning, Alima Kassim and Josie Donelson took first place in the event. They finished the race in 45.27 seconds, which is the fourth-fastest time in Vanderbilt history.
Another Vandy win came from the legs of Taylor McKinnon, who won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.71 seconds. That followed a third-place finish from Madyson Wilson in the 800-meter run, who posted a time of 2:11.87.
Vanderbilt bookended the podium with first- and third-place finishes in the 400-meter dash, with Faith Franklin taking the top spot with a time of 52.73 seconds and Jayden Hill earning the bronze with a time of 55.61 seconds. Franklin’s time was the fastest run in three years and placed her third all-time for the distance.
Kassim finished third in the 100-meter dash and set the fifth-fastest time in program history with a top time of 11.83 seconds on the day. Then, the Commodores closed out the meet with one last event win in the 4×400 meter relay. The team of Wilson, Franklin, Hill and Donelson finished the run in 3:34.84 to win the event by seven seconds and move to third on the Vanderbilt all-time list.
With the first outdoor meet in the books, Vanderbilt now turns its attention to next week’s Raleigh Relays which take place on March 26-27 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
