Coming off 18 wins in the Crimson Invitational, The University of Alabama track and field team recorded 14 wins against various teams from the state of Mississippi Friday night in the first annual Border Clash meet.
The Border Clash, created by Alabama coach Dan Waters, is a cooperative team scoring meet in which several Alabama schools, including Auburn and Samford, compete as one team against schools from Mississippi. The state of Alabama’s women’s teams won 121 to 76 while the men lost 107 to 92.
“It came about as an idea that I had to to increase interest in our program, as well as those at several other schools in the Alabama-Mississippi region,” Waters said. “It’s another chance for competing schools to showcase their teams in an event with a concise championship style evening. It’s the type of meet we feel most of college track and field should be having – something appealing to fans while also including a unique cooperative feel among schools that normally merely compete against each other.”
(See also “Track and Field team looks to improve scores“)
For the field, Charodd Richardson won the men’s hammer throw with a distance of 63.08 meters, which was a personal record, while Nia Barnes won the women’s javelin throw with a distance of 43.80.
Freshman Hayden Reed took first place for the men’s discus throw and men’s shot put with a personal best of 60.68 meters and 18.68, respectively. Reed said he tries to clear his mind before he competes and that practice every week helps him prepare.
“I don’t think about anything if I’m doing it right,” Reed said. “Next week, I’ll be doing the same thing we always do – getting out here and refining the technique. It’s a grind, but it works.”
For the women’s 4×100 meter relay race, Quanesha Burks, Dominique Kimpel, Remona Burchell and Sarah Thomas took the win with a season-best time of 44.15. Burchell, who won the individual national title at the 60 meters for the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, ran a 11.23 to claim another win in the women’s 100-meter dash.
(See also “Crimson Tide track and field, cross-country to compete in Paul Short Invitational“)
Kimberley Ficenec, runner-up in the women’s 1,500-meter run, said she plans to work on finishing stronger in her races by remaining focused throughout the course of the event.
“I need to keep the third lap of any race more focused,” she said. “In the last lap, you have to finish, so I need to keep my focus for that third lap.”
Also, Hannah Waggoner and Eric Sivill contributed wins in the men’s and women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with times of 11:02.33 and 9:30.73, respectively. Diondre Batson won the men’s 100-meter dash with a final time of 10.01. Yanique Malcolm ran a 54.06 in the women’s 400-meter dash.
The Crimson Tide will next travel to California to compete in the Mt. SAC Relays on Thursday, April 17.
(See also “Crimson Tide hosts invitational track meet“)
