The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) held its annual Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Atlanta this past weekend. Morehouse College’s Edwin Moses Track was the site of the event, and once again the crowd was treated to an exciting affair. The Fort Valley State University Lady Wildcats put on an impressive showing as well, finishing in second place with a total of 142 points. Albany State won the team championship with 217.5 points.
Antionette Oglesby was one of several Lady Wildcats who did well at the meet. Oglesby, who earned All-America honors last season in the triple jump, once again put on another strong performance in that event. Oglesby claimed first place with a jump of 12.16 meters. She backed that up by winning the long jump with a distance of 5.78 meters. Kiana Key, another member of the Lady Wildcats, finished behind Oglesby in both events. Key’s distance in the triple jump was 11.59 meters, good enough to meet the NCAA provisional qualifying standard. Key’s second place jump of 5.66 meters also provisionally qualified her in that event. Nakela Jackson did well in both hurdle races for FVSU. She (Jackson) finished second in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 14.53 seconds, but bounced back to win the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.96. Brittany Mallard aided the Fort Valley cause by finishing second in the 400 meters with a time of 57.91 seconds.
Fort Valley’s performance in both relay races was also impressive. The 4x100 meter relay team (Tiffany Moore, Nakela Jackson, Kirsten Holland, and Antionette Oglesby) finished in second place with a time of 47.87. The 4x400 meter team (LaQuanta Strickland, Nakela Jackson, Brittany Mallard and Tiffany Moore) won the event with a time of 3:53.74.
Fort Valley will compete in some more meets before heading to San Angelo, Texas to the NCAA Division II Championships (May 21-23).