NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University's women's track and field team showed drastic improvement this weekend at the TSU Invite.

"The difference from this week to last week is like night and day," said head coach Doug Molnar. "We had 21 season or personal bests at this event and at the pole vaulters event at Southern Illinois in the McDonald's Invitational. That's a good weekend."

The weekend started strong with junior Carrie Burggraf finishing second in the pole vault Friday night with a personal-best 3.65 meter vault at SIU. The field events continued to be strong throughout the weekend, with junior Amanda McCoy finishing fifth in the high jump at TSU with a 1.60 meter jump.

"Carrie started the weekend off right for us," said Molnar. "The high jumpers, especially McCoy, did well again."

The runners also shined this week in several events. Freshman Janelle Avery finished fourth in the mile run with a 5:21.97 run. McCoy (third, 9.09) and sophomore Chiamaka Obi (fifth, 9.11) both set personal bests in the 60-meter hurdles. Senior Bertha Castillo opened her season third in the 5000-meter run with a 18:31.29 mark. And Avery, Castillo, and seniors Melissa Nobbs and Tameeka Southern led the Lady Govs to second in the distance medley relay with a 12:47.24 mark.

"The DMR (distance medley relay) was outstanding," said Molnar. "That's the best it's been since I've been here. The hurdlers were good again - they've really come on this year. We just have to carry this momentum over to two weeks from now."  

That's when the Lady Govs will head to Bloomington, Ind., to participate in the Hoosier Hills.

-AP-