When the injury bug bit hard into the 2016 Austin Peay track and field team, the rest of the Ohio Valley Conference shed no tears.
That's because the last four seasons have seen the Governors jump from also-rans to serious contenders for an OVC title, posing a challenge to Tennessee State, Eastern Illinois and Southeast Missouri—the winners of each OVC Indoor and Outdoor title since Austin Peay's last championship victory in 2001. Nobody likes a threat.
It was not an easy road in 2016. Breigh Jones, Terri Morris, Chancis Jones, Kaylnn Pitts and Amia Butler all missed meets due to injury or illness. Were it not for the ascension of freshmen like Savannah Amato, Nia Gibbs-Francis and Dascha Hix, times might have gotten extremely difficult for the Govs during 2016.
The Govs had gotten used to success—three top-three finishes in their last four championship appearances heading into 2016—so it was with a bit of a disappointment an injury-riddled Austin Peay squad tumbled to fifth at the 2016 OVC Indoor Championships.
The Outdoor Championships have long been kinder to Austin Peay, but the Govs remained well on the outside after Day One of the 2016 Championships. Amato earned her first OVC gold medal and sewed up a spot at the NCAA East Preliminary with a personal-best 4.04m (13' 3") mark on Day One, flanked by bronze medals from Hix in the pole vault and Chancis Jones in the long jump, but the Governors were still mired in sixth heading into the final day of competition.
Then everything clicked into place.
The Govs roared out of the gate on Day Two, earning silver in the 4x100m relay and never looking back. By the time all was said and done, Austin Peay would earn two more individual bronze medals, from Kymmalett Ross in the 100m dash and Terri Morris—battling numerous injuries—in the 400m dash, 57 team points and the program's first 4x400m relay title since 2000 in the day's final event. When the dust settled, Austin Peay had 81 points, two better than fourth-place Southeast Missouri, and a top-three Outdoor Championship finish for the third consecutive year.
2015-16 Top 10
No. 10 - Liermann a dynamo for APSU in her freshman campaign
