Cougars Cruise at Appalachian Open

Friday, January 19

Boone, N.C.

College of Charleston

Appalachian Open

1/20/2018 8:27:00 PM | Women's Track & Field

BOONE, N.C. - The College of Charleston track & field team submitted five new entries on the school's Top 10 Performance lists this weekend at the ASU's Appalachian Open.

Freshman Marissa Linkous turned heads in the 400m dash, winning the event outright with a time of 59.23 to make her the third-fastest in school history in the event. Elsewhere in the sprints, Leona Burton Rojas qualified for the finals of the 55m dash, where she finished seventh with a time of 7.55. She went on to team up with Kayla Ennis, Brianna Lewis and Hannah Vanderwall to take third in the 4x300m relay with a time of 2:54.58.

Fellow freshman Stephanie Laudien also logged a first-overall effort, doing so in the triple jump with a distance of 11.17m to make her the fifth-most prolific jumper in school history. Laurel Miller took third in the high jump with a height of 1.63m, while Breanna Tatum took sixth in the long jump (5.04m).

The Cougars performed well in the throws, with Asia Johnson (15.07m) and Simone Harris (12.32m) finishing seventh in the weight throw and shot put respectively. Below them, Sarah Lynch improved her PR in the shot put with a distance of 11.05m, freshman Madeline Weber cracked the shot put Top 10 list at No. 6 (10.95m), and Lydia Bussey moved up to No. 9 on the CofC weight throw Top 10 list (12.63m).

Cate Ambrose finished second overall in the 5000m with a time of 18:39.96, while Marissa Small-Towns rounded things out with a third place time of 2:24.68 in the 800m.

As a team, the Cougars finished second overall with a team score of 72 against a field of 14 teams, trailing only the host school Appalachian State.

The College will take the next two weeks to prepare for their next meet, the Camel City Invite at JDL Fast Track on Feb. 2-3.