By Tyler Wooten
GoSycamores.com
RALEIGH, N.C. – Senior All-American hurdler Adarius Washington claimed victory in the 110-meter hurdles as the Sycamore men's and women's track and field teams closed out their stay at NC State for the Raleigh Relays on Saturday.
After a dominating open on Friday, both Washington and junior Marcus Neely finished high in the hurdles on Saturday, finishing first and fourth in the event. Washington improved ever-so-slightly from his 13.68 on Friday to 13.67, which currently ranks him No. 2 in the NCAA and No. 1 in the entire East region – almost assuring the senior Indianapolis native a slot in the NCAA East Regional meet at the end of May. Washington has proved he still has room to grow, though, as his overall career best is 13.58 – the No. 4 time in Indiana State history that was run at last year's Drake Relays.
Meanwhile, Neely – who ran a massive PR of 13.83 on Friday – finished fourth at 14.10. Neely's performance Friday still holds up as an impressive one, putting him fifth in the nation and fourth in the East Region right now to put him in good contention for regional qualifying as well.
Washington was also a member of a solid men's 4x100-meter relay squad that ran the best time at ISU in two years after clocking in at 41.11. The crew of Washington, Scott Schreiber, Tristan Parmley and Jaynard Keys improved on last year's time by nearly half a second.
The Sycamores weren't done in the relays, though, as the ISU women put together two very strong relay races toward the end of the action on Saturday.
First, the distance crew of Brittany Neeley, Jessi Conley, Aleksey Green and Brooke Moore took a crack at breaking Indiana State's all-time 4x800-meter relay record and came fairly close to doing so. The quartet finished third at 8:59.32, becoming just the second sub-9:00 relay in school history behind the 1995 record of 8:48.97 – which included current ISU interim director of athletics Angie Lansing.
The Sycamore women also had a strong showing in the 4x400-meter relay to close out the weekend festivities. Jamie Newsome, Ahmanah Woods, Demetra Camble and Oschtisha Jackson finished fourth overall at 3:45.57 – three seconds faster than ISU's best in the event this past indoor season.
In the field, the Sycamores were able to sweep the open pole vault titles with a win by freshman Kim Jackson. Following a win by freshman Riley Smith on Friday, Jackson took today's crown with a leap of 3.50m (11-05.75). Sophomore Jessica Melchi also placed in the top-three at 3.35m (10-11.75).
Also placing high in the field was senior Whitney Walker in her first javelin outing of the season. Walker finished third overall at 37.73m (123-09), with junior Colby Johnson also making it through to finals at 35.70m (117-01).
Indiana State will make a much shorter trek next week to nearby Eastern Illinois for the Big Blue Classic on April 1-2.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Track and Field team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter.
