Women’s 4x400 Meter Relay Team Breaks School Record at Virginia Challenge

Friday, April 17

Charlottesville, Va.

Radford University

Virginia Challenge

Photo by: Radford Athletics Communications

Women’s 4x400 Meter Relay Team Breaks School Record at Virginia Challenge

4/18/2026 7:25:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Radford track & field teams had a tall task in competing with many power conference schools this weekend and faired extremely well. The women's 4x400 meter relay team placed third and set a school record doing so, while several other Highlanders improved and moved up the all-time performance list in several events this weekend at Virginia.

THE BASICS
Final Result – No Team Score
Meets: Virginia Challenge
Locations: Lannigan Field (Charlottesville, Va.)

NOTABLES

Capping off an exciting Saturday, the women's 4x400 meter relay team of Mattie Flores, Raichelle Cornelius, Jordan Jackson, and Jeylah Hamrick broke the school record for the second time this season. The ladies finished third overall with a time of 3:40.49, just behind the Penn State team in second and in front of Virginia's relay team.
Several of the women's 200-meter sprinters finished near the top of the leaderboard. Janaya Moore took second place with a time of 24.84 seconds, while Flores finished fifth overall with a new personal best of 24.88 seconds in the event. Flores' performance is ninth on the Radford all-time performance list. Jackson, Kanaan Banks, and Nadia Jackson also turned in personal bests in the 200 meters.
The women's 4x100 meter relay team competed for the first time this season and put up the fourth-best performance on the school's all-time performance list. The group of Makayla Nelson, Moore, Jaelynn Joiner, and Hamrick finished in eighth overall with a time of 46.63 seconds.
Hamrick finished eighth in the 200-meter invite event, posting a season-best time by any Radford runner with a 23.84-second mark.
Quinlan Beegle had another stellar performance across several events. The freshman led the way for Radford in the 1500-meter race, with his time of 3:55.88 placing him third on the all-time performance list. He also was the top Highlander in the 800-meter race, and his time of 1:54.12 put him sixth on the all-time performance list.
Tyrique Taylor improved with a new PR in the shot put, with his best mark of 15.31 meters (50'2.75") bumping him up to fourth on the all-time performance list.
Nelson set a new outdoor PR in the high jump, with a leap of 1.62 meters (5'3.75") bumping her up to ninth on the all-time performance list.
Grace Crowe led the Highlanders in the women's discus throw, with a PR of 38.85 meters moving the seventh spot on the all-time performance list.
Robinson was sixth in the 400-meter hurdles and her time of 1:00.30 was a few tenths off of a personal best. To put it in perspective, the senior finished ahead of 38 other competitors in the event.
Kaley Tanner took fifth place in the women's 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 11:23.74.
Spencer Thacker and Liam McDonald also set new PRs in the 1500 meters, with Thacker running a 4:03.24 (7^th on all-time list) and McDonald a 4:03.76 (8^th on all-time list).
A trio of Highlander men competed in the 3000-meter steeplechase, with Jensen McCutcheon leading the team posting a time of 9:54.24. This mark is sixth on the all-time performance list, while Logan Hamilton (10:04.07) and Owen Sexton (10:12.62) also got themselves on the top 10 all-time performance list.
In the women's 5K, Kayla Fields and Megan Cash posted PRs, with Fields taking a 13^th place finish. Her time of 17:27.40 is now ninth on the all-time performance list.
Salomon Alexis cracked the top 10 all-time performance list in the long jump, with a mark of 6.15 meters (20'2.25") placing the sophomore ninth.

UP NEXT
Radford concludes the regular season slate on Wednesday, May 6 at the Liberty Twilight in Lynchburg, Va. It's their final meet before the one that really counts – the Big South Outdoor Championships.

GET IN THE GAME: FOLLOW RADFORD TRACK & FIELD
Get in the game and get New River City made by staying up to date with the latest from Radford Track & Field through @RadfordTrackXC on X, @radfordtrackxc on Instagram, Radford Track & Field and Cross Country on Facebook and subscribe to the Radford Athletics YouTube channel.