Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® WKU Archives Records WKU Archives 2017 UA19/16/2 Track & Field Press Releases WKU Athletic Media Relations Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_records Part of the African American Studies Commons, International and Area Studies Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Public Relations and Advertising Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Sports Studies Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation WKU Athletic Media Relations, "UA19/16/2 Track & Field Press Releases" (2017). WKU Archives Records. Paper 8318. https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_records/8318 This News Article is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in WKU Archives Records by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WKU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS / MEDIA RELATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / Friday, January 6, 2017 Track & Field / Contact: Jessica Leifheit, WKU Athletic Communications/Media Relations WKU TRACK & FIELD HEADED FOR GENE EDMONDS OPEN BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Nearly a month after the season-opening Vanderbilt Indoor Opener meet, the WKU Track & Field team is set for its next challenge as the squad heads to the Gene Edmonds Open hosted by Purdue on Saturday. Field events kickoff at 10 a.m. CT with running action to follow at noon CT. The Hilltoppers will be joined at the outing by Austin Peay, IPFW, IUPUI, Northern Illinois, Tennessee Tech and the host, Purdue, at the Lambert Fieldhouse. This year’s event marks the 22nd Annual Gene Edmonds Open and is the third-consecutive year that the Red and White have participated. Thirty-two Hilltopper athletes are scheduled to see action at the weekend meet including all three event winners from the season opener, as Julius Morris (60 meter), Ventavius Sears (400 meter, long jump) and Jenessa Jackson (weight throw) will all see action. Pentathlon competition will take place Friday afternoon with student-athletes representing Austin Peay, Purdue and Calumet – St. Joseph on the heat sheets. All events that Hilltoppers will compete in are scheduled to take place on Saturday. All events are anticipated to conclude by 3:30 p.m. CT. A full meet schedule of events can be accessed here. WKU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS / MEDIA RELATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / Saturday, January 7, 2017 Track & Field / Contact: Jessica Leifheit, WKU Athletic Communications/Media Relations Full results are attached. JACKSON AND SEGED BRING HOME TITLES FROM GENE EDMONDS OPEN WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – After nearly a month-long wait to return to action, the Hilltopper track and field team headed north to the Purdue-hosted Gene Edmonds Open where the men’s squad took third place and the women finished fourth. WKU saw two athletes bring home individual titles in Jenessa Jackson (shot put) and Maor Seged (600 meter). Head coach Erik Jenkins and his Hilltopper squads faced a tall test in Big Ten-host Purdue, which took the team title on both the men’s and women’s side of competition. Behind the Boilermakers (225) on the men’s side were IUPUI (71), WKU (61), Franklin (10) and Calumet-St. Joseph (2). On the women’s side, Purdue claimed the crown with 249 points followed by Austin Peay (63.5), Northern Illinois (61), WKU (44.5), Tennessee Tech (34), IPFW (5) and Calumet-St. Joseph (1). “We had some good things happen at today’s meet and we were able to evaluate the areas that we need to improve some more,” Jenkins shared. “We managed the meet well and the team really responded to the objectives placed before them. Our squad is a constant work in progress and we will continue to improve.” On the men’s side, WKU picked up 21 of its points in the 600 meter competition as four Hilltoppers earned spots in the top five including Seged who won the event with a reading of 1:22.29. Emmanuel Dasor claimed third place (1:25.61), Denzel Villaman took fourth (1:26.98) and Ventavius Sears finished fifth (1:27.98). Jalen Brown posted a pair of top-five finishes, coming in the long jump (6.28 meters) and the triple jump (11.99 meters), taking fifth and second, respectively. Additionally, a pair of Hilltoppers finished in the top five of the 60-meter hurdles as Jonathan Hayden (8.15) finished second and Villaman (8.60) took fifth. Julius Morris picked up points for the Red and White in the 400 meter, clocking a mark of 50.32 for fifth place while Stuart Nichols (14.43 meters) and Draven Sims (9.93 meters) rounded out the scoring by earning points in the weight throw. In the 4x400 meter relay, Seged, Dasor, Sears and Austin Hayes worked together to pick up a runner-up finish behind Purdue. The WKU unit clocked a mark of 3:21.25 in the event. Four Lady Toppers accounted for six point-earning performances from West Lafayette on the day. Jackson led the WKU squad with a first-place finish in the shot put (15.05 meters) and a third-place reading in the weight throw (17.61 meters). Jackson has now earned an individual title in back-to-back meets to open the season after winning the weight throw event at the Vanderbilt Indoor Opener. Kaila Smith was the second WKU athlete to pick up points in multiple events at the meet. The senior finished as the 600-meter runner up, clocking a time of 1:38.99 and turned in a fifth-place finish in the high jump, clearing a height of 1.56 meters. Sandra Akachukwu also earned points in the high jump, finishing third with a clearance of 1.61 meters. Ariel Terrell rounded out the individual scoring for WKU with a fourth-place finish in the 600 meter, earning a reading of 1:40.14. The WKU 4x400 meter relay unit of Peli Alzola, Jadzia Beasley, Khadijah Valentine and Terrell took second place behind Purdue, crossing the line in 3:56.27. WKU is back in action next weekend at the two-day Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville, Tennessee. Action will span Friday and Saturday, Jan. 13-14. WKU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS / MEDIA RELATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / Thursday, January 12, 2017 Track & Field / Contact: Jessica Leifheit, WKU Athletic Communications/Media Relations Live results link: http://www.cfpitiming.com/2017_Indoor_Season/Vandy_Commodore_2017/Vandy_Commodore_2017.html Start lists: http://www.cfpitiming.com/2017_Indoor_Season/Vandy_Commodore_2017/Vandy_Commodore_startlist_N M_2017.pdf TWO-DAY COMMODORE INVITATIONAL UP NEXT FOR HILLTOPPERS BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Track and Field is headed to Nashville, Tennessee, for the first of three 2017 indoor meets at Vanderbilt this weekend as the Hilltoppers will partake in the Commodore Invitational on Friday and Saturday. Action will commence on Friday at 4 p.m. CT and again Saturday at 10:30 a.m. CT. The Hilltoppers will face stout competition at the two-day event as eight of 14 SEC programs will be represented at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility. Altogether, WKU will be one of 20 teams in attendance; the rest of field includes: Alabama, Austin Peay, Belmont, Florida, Georgia Tech, Lipscomb, LSU, Michigan, Middle Tennessee, Missouri, Murray State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, UT-Martin, Tennessee Tech, Trevecca Nazarene, UTEP and Vanderbilt. On the men’s side, 20 of the squad’s 24 Hilltoppers are slated to get in on the action this weekend in 12 different events. Likewise, 15 of 18 Lady Toppers are set to compete across 12 events as well. Jenessa Jackson will look to secure an event title in her third-consecutive meet to start the season. The senior picked up the weight throw title at the Vanderbilt Indoor Opener in December and followed with the shot put crown at Purdue last weekend. Jackson has earned both of the Lady Toppers’ 2017 event titles after two meets. Three different Hilltoppers have accounted for four combined event crowns on the men’s side. Ventavius Sears collected a pair of titles at the Vanderbilt Opener (400m and long jump), while Julius Morris (60m, Vanderbilt Opener) and Maor Seged (600m, Purdue) have accounted for the other two. Action on Friday will begin at 4 p.m. with men’s and women’s high jump and women’s weight throw action. The first heat of running action commences at 7 p.m. with the women’s 200 meter. Pole vault competition will kick off Saturday’s slate at 10:30 a.m. while running events are set for 1 p.m. with the women’s 60-meter hurdles first up on the docket. Admission to the Commodore Invitational is $7 per day for spectators. Visitors will be able to park in lot #75, directly across from the outdoor track. Live results from the meet can be found here. WKU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS / MEDIA RELATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / Saturday, January 14, 2017 Track & Field / Contact: Jessica Leifheit, WKU Athletic Communications/Media Relations Complete results PDF attached. HILLTOPPERS CLAIM THREE EVENT TITLES IN TALENTED COMMODORE INVITE FIELD NASHVILLE, Tenn. – With a pair of event titles by Ventavius Sears as well as the 4x400-meter relay title at the two-day Commodore Invitational, WKU Track and Field brought home a slew of season-best marks and several finishes that rank top-five in program history. In total, the Hilltoppers produced eight top-eight finishes from the Multipurpose Facility on the Vanderbilt campus. “Yesterday started out on a positive note with Ventavius Sears jumping a top-five mark in the country at 7.78 meters, which gives him a legitimate chance to make it to the NCAA Championships,” opened WKU head coach Erik Jenkins. “We also got a personal record by Jonathan Hayden in the short hurdles which was great to see.