CLARKSVILLE – Austin Peay State University women's track and field team opens up the 2014-15 indoor season with a pair of one-day events this week. First up, the Lady Govs make the short trek to Nashville's West End to compete in the Music City Challenge at Vanderbilt Fieldhouse, Thursday before heading to Murfreesboro for Saturday's Middle Tennessee Christmas Invitational, hosted by Middle Tennessee at the Murphy Center.
The Lady Govs have much to live up to in 2014-15, coming off their best Ohio Valley Conference Championship finish since winning the indoor championship in 2001. 2014 OVC Outdoor Coach of the Year Doug Molnar lost only a handful of athletes from that squad and added another crop of talented newcomers, specifically bolstering his distance, throws and pole vaulting units.
No discussion of Austin Peay track would be complete without mentioning junior Breigh Jones. The Memphis native returns for her third season after becoming the first APSU track athlete to qualify for the NCAA Championships since 2001, when she finished 20th in the nation to close out the 2014 campaign. She will compete the 4x400m relay at both events this weekend, as well as her season's first 400m Saturday.
Entering her senior season, sprinter Erika Adams looks to leave her mark on the track as well. Already owner of school records in both the 55m and 60m dash events, the Weston, Fla., native gets her first chance to become Austin Peay's lone athlete to finish a 55m dash in less than seven seconds, Saturday. She also will run the 60m at Vanderbilt.
An ultra-talented group of second-year jumpers, led by 2014 NCAA Regional qualifier Kaylnn Pitts, looks to get a solid first weekend of work in as well before the Christmas break. Pitts, Chancis Jones and Amia Butler will be joined by freshman Keyondria Ross – younger sister to sprint and relays standout Kymmalett Ross – in the jumps at both sites this weekend, with Pitts displaying her specialty, the triple jump, Thursday, at Vanderbilt.
The elder Ross, along with Jones, senior Maikea Davis and sophomore Terri Morris, begin their assault on their own school 4x400m record with attempts at both the Music City Challenge and the MT Christmas Invite this weekend – the quartet set the school's top indoor mark last February at the TSU Invitational before earning silver at the OVC Indoor Championships later that month. Davis, proud owner of the school 200m dash record as well, gets her first shot at lowering that in her season's first 200m event, Saturday.
Following Saturday's competition, the Lady Govs will break for the holidays before returning to action Jan. 16-17 in Johnson City, Tenn., for the Niswonger Invitational, hosted by ETSU.
