CHARLOTTE – The Radford women's track & field team certainly made its mark on the opening night of the 2025 Big South Indoor Championships inside the Carolina Indoor Track & Field Complex on Friday.
The opening day of competition for the Highlanders featured three podium finishes, one school record, three all-time top 10 performances, five student-athletes advancing to Saturday's final round, six personal records and two season bests in one of the best starts to a championship meet in recent seasons.
With only six events scored so far, and Radford with 19 entries on championship Saturday, the Highlanders still have plenty of time to make some noise and finish with a perfect ending to the record-setting 2025 indoor campaign.
"Three podium finishes and a school record on day one is exciting," director of track & field
Shelli Sayers said. "Sienna's 5,000-meter run and the distance medley relay squad got the ball rolling for us at the end. We have a lot of momentum headed into day two."
THE BASICS
RESULTS: Fifth Overall (18 Points: 6-of-17 Events Scored)
MEET: 2025 Big South Indoor Championship (Day One)
LOCATION: Carolina Indoor Track & Field Complex (Columbia, SC)
PODIUM SQUAD
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Kandace McIvor was the first Highlander to make the podium as she clawed her way back in a gritty performance to finish third overall in the pentathlon. She set a personal best in the 800-meter race and a season best in the shot put en route to the bronze.
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Sienna Bailey followed her up with a third-place finish in the 5,000-meter final. She blazed the track in 16:45.08 just a day after she became the first Highlander to sweep the Big South's Athlete of the Week and Freshman of the Week awards in school history. To go with the third-place finish, she was also the fastest freshman in the race by over 15 seconds.
- The women's distance medley relay squad of
Megan Cash,
Mattie Flores,
Kate McLearen and
Mia Farley teamed up to win the bronze in Radford's last race of the evening with a time of 12:15.82.
ANOTHER SCHOOL RECORD GOES DOWN
- As has been the case all season long, no school record is currently safe when the Highlanders take to the track and that trend continued as
Jeylah Hamrick went off to win the 400-meter preliminary round with a top-time of 55.05. She punched her ticket to the event's championship race on Saturday with the personal best performance. Hamrick will enter the final round with the top time ran in the conference this indoor season.
ON TO THE FINALS
- Both Hamrick and
Raichelle Cornelius punched their tickets to the championship round in the 200-meter dash. Hamrick took second in the prelims while Cornelius claimed eighth overall. Hamrick's time of 24.52 moved her into third all-time in the event in school history.
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Jaslyne Robinson improved to sixth all-time in the 60-meter hurdles as she advanced through to Saturday's championship race after she dropped a personal record of 8.82.
- Hamrick and Cornelius teamed up to do it again as both also advanced in the 400-meter race after the duo finished first and fifth in the prelims.
NOTABLES
- Freshman
Danae Niles took ninth in the women's 60-meter prelims.
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Kate McLearen raced to a ninth-place finish and
Claire Keefe was right behind in tenth in the 800-meter preliminary round.
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Katelyn Campbell (5,000-meter),
Aliyah Taylor (long jump) and
Logan Babbs (shot put) all claimed tenth in their respective event final.
NEXT UP
Radford will get right back to it for Championship Saturday on March 1. The field slate of the schedule will get underway for the Highlanders at approximately 1 PM ET, while the track portion will follow at 2 PM. Fans and supporters can
follow along with all the action in real-time here.
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