Track and Field Records 11 Top-Five Finishes in Season Opener

Friday, December 3

Birmingham, AL

Tulane University

BSC Icebreaker

Track and Field Records 11 Top-Five Finishes in Season Opener

Dec 3, 2021 | Track & Field

By: Samantha Larsen

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – The Tulane track and field team totaled 11 top-five finishes in its first indoor meet of the season on Friday at the BSC Indoor Icebreaker in the Birmingham CrossPlex. The Green Wave also had a record breaking performance in two events, putting them in the top-10 of the schools record books.

"Going into the first meet we want to set some competitive benchmarks to which we can improve on over the training weeks ahead. As a staff we saw a lot of things to be very optimistic about within our event groups" director of track and field Adrian Myers said. "Like with any early opener you'll have some disappointments and some positive surprises. However, I loved how we competed, and I love seeing our athletes taking coaching from our staff and applying it. If we can continue to do this week after week, we will grow competitively to new heights this year. Now we have to dial them in through finals and the break, bring them back healthy, fit and ready to roll."

Mackenzie Callahan won the 3000M with a time of 9:51.84. This time landed her the 3rd fastest time in the event in Tulane's history.

"Mackenzie has been training great and is a great competitor" Myers said. "I was proud of how she was able to run this well, this early and leading start to finish. She will have a great year!"

Kristen O'Handley also grabbed a first-place finish for the Green Wave. O'Handley won the 400M dash (56:33) leading a one, three, four finish with Louise Jones and Oneke Gwan behind her.

"Kristen ran a fantastic quarter and overall had a fantastic day" Myers said. "She has worked hard over the summer and fall thus far and will continue to shine brighter over the course of the season. I am so pumped for her!"

Aldrianna Dupree won the 60M dash after coming in second in both the prelims and semis with a time of 7.59. She later went on to place eighth in the 200M.

"Aldrianna ran smoothly through the rounds and is opening strong as ever" Myers said. "Now I want to see her continue to grow in the technical aspects and see her blaze come championship season."

Sophomore Theo Malej continued with the success in the jumping events, as they led the Green Wave with a first-place jump with measured at 12.13 meters (40-01.50).

"Theo can really bounce down the runway and it's very evident" Myers said. "Once all the phases come together this spring, there will be big jumps hitting the results board.

Graduate student Margot Temines was the second record breaker of the day. Temines now sits 10^th in program history in the 60M hurdles.

Other notable finishes included Kyah Loyd in the 60M hurdles (third), Asja Thompson in the 200M (fourth), Jordan Lesh in triple jump (sixth), Melissa Toilolo in shot put (seventh) and second, fourth, fifth and seventh placed finishes in Pole Vault.

The team will have just over a month off before heading to the blue grass to compete in the Jim Green Invite Jan. 14 and Jan. 15.

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