The Brenau track and field team used six first-place finishes and a host of other top performances to capture the 2021 Appalachian Athletic Conference Women’s Track and Field Championships on April 22-23.
The squad amassed 188 points to outpace second place Columbia College in South Carolina by 37 points to win the program’s second Appalachian Athletic Conference title. Brenau was unable to compete in last year’s championships due to COVID.
Junior Tamia Francis led the charge for the Golden Tigers by winning both the 100 and 200 meter titles and also earned top honors in the long jump. Francis raced to a time of 12.08 in the 100 meters to edge past Columbia’s Kelsey White-Kennedy by three tenths of a second. In the 200 meters, the Snellville, Georgia, native ran a blistering 24.41 to win her second individual title by almost a full second. Francis also placed second in the long jump with a leap of 1.55 meters.
Francis continued her strong championships by joining teammates Myia Neal from Bear, Delaware, Tatyiana McClendon from Dallas, Georgia, and Kiyah Pittmon from Atlanta, Georgia, to capture the 4×100 meter relay title with a time of 47.55. The squad outpaced the host team Columbia International University by 0.76 seconds in the win.
Neal, Pittmon and McClendon also joined Kayland Thomason from Stockbridge, Georgia, to lead the 4×400 relay team to another relay title. The group bested the Columbia College relay team by over two seconds to take top honors with a time of 4:00.57.
Additionally, junior TyLeeah Maddox from Ludowici, Georgia, won her first individual title in the heptathlon. Maddox won four of the seven events in the heptathlon to amass 3978 points to defeat Union College’s Jamellia Potts by over 300 points. Maddox also earned third place in the high jump by clearing a height of 1.52 meters.
The Golden Tigers also had a trio of athletes place second in their respective events. Junior Shatrice Dixon from Sandersville, Georgia, earned second place in the long jump with a leap of 5.65 meters, while senior Cameron Mims from Athens, Georgia, and freshman Angelica Richards from Stockbridge, Georgia, each were runners-up in the shot put and hammer throw respectively.
Two other Golden Tigers had third place honors as sophomore Mitchel Alex from Johns Creek, Georgia, jumped 11.11 meters in the triple jump and fellow sophomore Katherine Fourie from Lawrenceville, Georgia, placed third in the javelin throw with a heave of 32.37 meters.
Other top Golden Tigers performances include:
Mitchel Alex, third place, triple jump, 11.11m; eighth place, long jump, 5.30m; twelfth place, 100 meters, 13.01; Bianca Braz, fifth place, 10,000 meters, 46:05.36; Jayda Burkett, fifth place, 100 hurdles, 15.81; Shatrice Dixon, second place, long jump, 5.65m; sixth place, triple jump, 10.56m; Jamiyah Flewellen, sixteenth place, 100 hurdles, 18.28; seventeenth place, 100 meters, 13.23; Katherine Fourie, third place, javelin, 32.37m; fifteenth place, shot put, 9.82m; Zoie Gardner, third place, 3000M steeplechase, 12:47.84; Talara Harper, fifth place, 100 meters, 12.61; Paola Benitez-Hernandez, fifth place, 5,000 meter walk, 35:26.47; Cassidy Hunter, fourth place, pole vault, 2.85m; Oluwatomisin John, fourth place, triple jump, 10.85m; ninth place, long jump, 5.30m; Deeanna Joseph, third place, hammer throw, 41.76m; Jailyn Kendrick, sixth place, hammer throw, 39.69m; tenth place, shot put, 10.30m; Tatyiana McClendon, seventh place, javelin, 25.67m; Cameron Mims, second place, shot put, 11.98m; fourth place, javelin, 30.93m; fourth place, hammer throw, 40.70m; Myia Neal, fourth place, 400 meters, 1:00.41; fifth place, 200 meters, 26.03; sixth place, 400 hurdles, 1:10.54; fourteenth place, long jump, 4.90m; Kiyah Pittmon, eighth place, 800 meters, 2:28.24; Jasmine Reese, twentieth place, shot put, 9.17m; Angelica Richards, second place, hammer throw, 43.21m; ninth place, discus, 31.67m; Kayland Thomason, tenth place, 400 meters, 1:01.35; 4×800 relay team of Taylor Green, Shannon Hoolahan, Keren Kepwadi and Bianca Braz, sixth place, 11:05.29.
Brenau earned 188 total points, while Columbia College came in second place with 151 points. Milligan (Tenn.) University (115), Columbia International University (114) and Truett McConnell (Ga.) University (70) round out the top five teams.
