ATLANTA—For sophomore Sabrina Richman, it was a homecoming to be proud of.
In a return to her hometown, the Atlanta native posted a pair of top-five finishes for Austin Peay State University women's track and field team at this weekend's Georgia Tech Invitational, cementing her status as one of the league's best on-the-track talents.
Richman opened Saturday with her specialty, the 400m dash, and didn't disappoint, roaring around George C. Griffin Track in 55.26 seconds to take runner-up honors to Western Kentucky's Juannae Lewis, herself a top-100 runner in the NCAA East region. But that wasn't all for Richman—she returned 90 minutes later for the 200m dash and took fifth overall with a 24.55 mark, one-hundredth of a second ahead of her previous season-best set last week at the APSU Invitational.
Richman was not the only Gov to find success in the 200m and 400m events. In the 200m, Tymeitha Tolbert placed 20th with a 25.34, while a whole conglomerate of Govs joined Richman in the top-20 in the 400m, with Kyra Wilder (personal-best 57.57, 14th), Amelia Thiesing (58.01, 16th) and Allana Johnson (58.33, 19th) ensuring that 20 percent of the top-20 were Governors. Tolbert (12.14, 17th) and Wilder (12.17, 20th) also reached top-20 status in the 100m, with freshman Tiyanna Johnson (12.13) leading the way for the Austin Peay contingent at 16th.
"Thought Sabrina had an outstanding day," said Austin Peay head coach Doug Molnar. "The success our 100m dash runners had Friday night set the tone for us, I think."
Saturday dawned early for senior Nia Gibbs-Francis, who kicked off the day with the high jump; she posted a 1.64m mark in the event to take third overall, then returned in the early afternoon to once more display her newfound affinity for the 400m hurdles, placing 14th at 1:05.32.
In other news of the field, freshman Kori McDaniel continued a solid opening campaign, launching a 12.56m shot put attempt to place ninth overall.
"Nia's starting to display a lot of consistency," Molnar said. "We've got a lot of people banged up so were cautious in who we ran and didn't run, and in what events we competed. I thought overall, we had a pretty good day under tough conditions."
The Govs return to action next Friday in the Bluff City for the Memphis Tiger Invitational in Memphis, Tennessee.
