WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - School records fell to Kelsey Newcomb and Amanda Okani, and Renee Reives finished second in the shot put to lead the VMI women's track and field team on the opening day of the Big South Championships, contested Thursday at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Reives delivered VMI's top performance in a final on Thursday, earning a runner-up spot in the shot put. The sophomore threw the implement 13.91 meters (45'7 ¾") to earn eight team points. The Keydets scored in two other events on day one, led by Amanda Okani in the pentathlon.
Okani finished in sixth, scoring three points by notching a school-record 3,117 markers. Her five-event performance was highlighted by the day's fourth-best effort in the first event, the 60-meter hurdles.
VMI's other points came from the distance medley relay, as the team of Michelle Church, Thireyona Legg, Newcomb and Leah Schubel clocked in at 12:42.61 to finish eighth overall.
The story of the preliminaries, however, was Newcomb's performance in the 800-meters. She clocked in at 2:15.29 to not only win her heat, but to notch the top qualifying time for tomorrow's final. In the process, Newcomb broke the school record by over two seconds and when her time was converted to the appropriate metric, it was also an ECAC qualifying performance at 2:13.74.
After day one, the Keydets sit eighth in the team standings, but are only four point behind a tie between Radford and High Point for fourth place (18 points). Charleston Southern (15) and UNC Asheville (13) sit just in front of the Keydets in sixth and seventh, respectively, while Liberty leads Coastal Carolina 68-54 at the front of the field. Gardner-Webb is third (30), while Campbell (9) and Winthrop (1) round out the field.
"I was very pleased with our performances today," said VMI head coach Darrin Webb. "Between our two teams, we had 29 seasonal best performances and set ourselves up well for tomorrow's finals. On the women's side today, Renee Reives, Kelsey Newcomb and Amanda Okani all performed very, very well, and we're confident that we can see similar performances from others tomorrow."
In addition, the Keydets saw Mary Grace Lemon finish 12th in the shot put with a personal best of 12.05 M (39'6 ½").
VMI track and field is back in action Friday, taking part in the final day of the Big South Indoor Championships at the JDL Fast Track. Action will get underway at 10 a.m.
