March 26, 2016
Results | Schedule
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Missouri State track and field team competed in its first meet of the 2016 outdoor season at the Arkansas Spring Invitational here.
The top performance at the meet came from the 4x100-meter relay quartet of Asha Cave, Kadisha Francois, Shavonne Husbands, and Marissa Kurtimah that sprinted to a second-place finish in a time of 45.36 seconds. Francois and Husbands would go on to help MSU finish third in the 4x400-meter relay after clocking in a time of 3:42.74 with teammates Shani Adams and Oarabile Babolayi.
Seven student-athletes recorded personal bests in seven individual events for MSU, with six of them in field events. Javelin saw improvements from two student-athletes - Melanie Raterman and Mirissa Massey - where Raterman's hurl of 41.61 meters was good for a third-place finish in the event. Raterman also tallied a personal best toss of 40.70 meters in the discus to finish as the only Bear to show improvements in two events in the season opener. Sophomores Antonea Carson and Brittany McPike produced personal bests in the hammer throw and shot put, respectively, to cap a successful weekend by the MSU throwers squad.
Jumper Daijha Heron sprung to two fourth-place finishes for the Bears in the long jump and triple jump. Posting a personal best mark of 5.84 meters in the long jump, Heron edged teammate Robiann Broomfield, who took a fifth-place finish in the event with a jump of 5.73 meters. High jumper Betsy Borgsmiller cleared 1.65 meters to tie a personal best mark for the senior.
On the track, Francois knocked 0.50 seconds off of her personal best time in the 200-meter dash to lead the Bears and finish eighth overall in the event with a time of 24.46 seconds.
After four events scored on Friday, senior Holly Pattie-Belleli set the pace for the Bears in the heptathlon finishing second overall after the first day of competition. Teammates Kelli Bowen and Olivia Ott followed closely behind, sitting in sixth- and eighth-place, respectively. After Saturday's competition, Pattie-Belleli recorded 4803 total points, which was good for a third-place overall finish in the event.
The Bears will continue their 2016 outdoor schedule at the one-day Margaret Simmons Invitational on Friday, April 1.
#MSUBears
