AUBURN, Ala. — Jayden Hill and Falon Spearman both contributed points with their top finishes on the final day of the SEC Outdoor Championships in Auburn, Alabama. The team finished with 24 points overall.
Hill, who already held the 800-meter program record with a time of 2:02.62, trimmed her time down to 2:00.03. Her record-setting finish earned her fourth place in the final, scoring five points. “You can see it in her eyes,” director of cross country and track and field Althea Thomas said. “It has been amazing to see her run with the level of confidence she has in herself, her training, her time with coach Lisa Morgan, and her team”.
Spearman finished eighth in the finals in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.68 to add to the overall team score. The 4×100-meter relay team of Danielle Dunning, Josie Donelson, Alima Kassim, and Kylah Woods made their mark in the program record books, posting a 44.85-second finish to be the second-fastest program time.
The program’s overall score of 24 points doubled from the 12 points scored last year at the 2025 SEC Outdoor Championships. “The truth is, in sports, you’re going to have peaks and valleys. Last year, we couldn’t view last year’s points as a valley, but it was a definite need for us to grow. It’s amazing to see the progress—we’re a program now, not just a team.”
Qualifiers will be announced for the NCAA East First Round next week, which kicks off Thursday, May 28 in Lexington, Kentucky. Fans can also follow Vanderbilt track and field on Facebook, Instagram and X at @VandyXCTrack.
