Three Athletes Score for Track & Field at Final Day of League Championship

Friday, February 22

Birmingham, Ala.

Tulane University

American Athletic Conference Indoor Championship

Photo by: Ben Solomon

Three Athletes Score for Track & Field at Final Day of League Championship

Feb 23, 2019 | Track & Field

Meet Results

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Three Tulane student-athletes earned scoring marks and three others set personal records on the final day of the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex on Saturday afternoon.

"I'm proud of the effort that a huge majority of our team demonstrated this weekend," said Eric Peterson, Tulane's Director of Cross Country and Track & Field. "We had a lot of personal records and seasonal best marks which is a good sign. Even the student-athletes who didn't score for the team competed well and improved, and that bodes well for the transition we're going to make from indoors to outdoors."

As a team, Tulane finished in ninth place with 35 points.

Brandi Hughes medaled at the indoor championship for the second consecutive season, placing second for the silver medal this year with a time of 8.43 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles. Hughes was joined in the top eight by teammate Kyah Loyd who took seventh in 8.65 seconds. Combined, the pair scored nine points for the Green Wave to start the day.

"Brandi has just developed in a really consistent, high-level performer for us," Peterson said.

Also scoring for Tulane was freshman Trina Malej in the triple jump. After fouling on her first attempt, Malej reached a distance of 12.16 meters (39-10.75) on her second jump. Needing to do better to reach the finals, Malej leaped 12.35 meters (40-6.25) to earn herself three more jumps in the finals for a top-eight finish.

In the finals, Malej jumped 12.23 meters and 12.31 meters, not bettering her mark from the first round. Still, that was enough to score for the freshman, adding one more point to the Green Wave's total in her first conference meet.

Running in the first two heats of the 3K were Mckenzie Melius, Jennifer LaMori and Mary Catherine Stovall. All three broke personal records in the event with Melius crossing the finish line 21st in a time of 10:00.57, a full second faster than she had ever run and improving on her ninth-fastest time in team history. LaMori was 33rd in 10:12.15, knocking nearly 18 seconds off her previous best of 10:30.29. Stovall had a PR for the second straight day as she finished in 44th place in 10:38.09, six seconds ahead of her previous best.

Emma Newton ran in the final heat and finished with a time of 10:02.79, putting her in 27th place at the end of the race.

To close out the competition, the Green Wave finished ninth in the 4x400 relay, just missing out on scoring. Maya Harewood, Aldrianna Dupree, Brandi Hughes and Louise Jones made up the Tulane quartet, and their time was a mere 1.1 seconds behind a scoring mark.

Tulane will head outdoors for its next team meet, taking part in the SELA Invitational in Hammond on March 2. Pole vaulter Rebekah Markel could also be participating at the NCAA Indoor Championship on March 8-9 at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

"We remain really hopefully that Rebekah's mark is strong enough to get her into the national meet," Peterson said. "That would be really something both for her personally and for our program."