ASU track and field has busy weekend
by Staff Reports
A.J. Dohanic set a new personal record and moved in to sixth-place in Appalachian State history to help lead ASU's men's track and field team to an impressive performance at the Clemson Invitational over the weekend.
Dohanic, who posted a time of 14.10 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles, finished fifth in the event and broke his previous personal-best of 14.11 seconds, set earlier this season.
Darius Purcell posted another impressive effort in the high jump by finishing third with a leap of 6-feet, 8 Â1/4 inches, while Jared Stalling turned in a solid performance in the throws.
Stalling finished second in the shot put with a toss of 55-2 ¾, while taking fourth in the hammer throw (187-8 and in the discus (151-11).
The Mountaineers also sent several distance runners to the Duke Invitational on Sunday.
Alex Taylor finished fifth in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:49.80 to set a new school record in the event. Sean Soderman and Josh Cox finished second and fourth, respectively, in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Soderman ran the event in a time of 9:01.38 while Cox finished with a time of 9:03.31.
On the women's side, the Mountaineers posted eight top-10 finishes at Clemson as several athletes looked to lock down NCAA Qualifying spots.
Breanna Alston led Appalachian's sprinters with a fifth-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.01 seconds while also anchoring the Mountaineers' 400 relay team to a third place showing with a time of 46.81 seconds.
ASU also had a solid showing from Cassie Crawford, who took third in the pole vault with an effort of 12-6.
As usual, the Mountaineers scored plenty of points in the throws by churning out five top-five performances between Jasmine Suydam and Gayshawna Watkins.
Suydam took third in the shot put (44-4) and finished fourth in the discus (137-5) and fifth in the hammer throw (133-4). Watkins placed second in the discus (150-11) and third in the hammer throw (150-1).
The Mountaineers return to action on Friday at the Georgia Tech Invitational. It will mark the final meet for the Mountaineers before the NCAA East Preliminaries begin on May 24.