Georgia State scored the most points (76) on the third and final day of the Sun Belt Track and Field Championships to rocket from sixth-place to a final second-place with 111 points. Western Kentucky won with 173 points, scoring 95 in the field events and 78 in the track portion. Georgia State dominated the track portion with 103 points, but had just eight points in the field events.
GSU started the 10 running events on Sunday's final day by finishing second in the 4x100 relay with the third-fastest time in school history (45.24) and finished the day by finishing third in the 4x400 relay.
Individually on Sunday, GSU got a second-place finish by junior Carole Idolphine in the 400m hurdles in 1:01.08. The Panthers got third-place efforts from Katharine Showalter in the 1,500m run (4:36.92) and Tatiana Colbert in the 400m race (55.14). Showalter had earned all-conference with an earlier win, while Niamh Kearney had a third-place finish on Saturday. All the participants on the relay teams and the three individuals above all earn All-Sun Belt Conference honors. The 4x100 all-conference relay team was Tatiana Colbert, Wande Brewer, Katherine Randolph and Ravin Gilbert. The 4x400 all-conference unit was Tatiana Colbert, Wande Brewer, Carole Idolphine and Talia Colbert.
Wande Brewer set a GSU school-record in finishing fourth in the 200m dash in 23.47. Ravin Gilbert had a fourth-place finish in the 100m sprint in 11.59, the second-fastest time in GSU's record book. Hannah Stefanoff brought home fourth-place points in the 5,000m in 17:41.98.
Tamara Moore and Talia Colbert brought home fifth-place points in the 100m hurdles (13.75) and the 400 meters (55.65), respectively.
Kristiana Towns finished sixth in the 800m (2:18.62) and Niamh Kearney took sixth in the 1,500 (4:49.31) to each secure those three points for GSU. Wande Brewer added a seventh-place finish in the 100 meters (11.79) and Tyra Jamison earned a seventh in the 400m hurdles (1:04.87).
In the 5,000m run, all four GSU runners scored as Showalter finished sixth, Jennifer Rubel seventh and Anna Sinclair eighth to follow Stefanoff's fourth.
In Sunday's discus final, GSU freshman Alysiah Whittaker added two points for a seventh-place finish with a 46.68 toss, the sixth-longest in school history.
These events followed Showalter's win, Kearney's second and Anna Sinclair's fourth in the 3,000m steeplechase on Saturday. In Friday's opening day race, Stefanoff was fourth and Rubel was sixth in the 10,000m run. Gabby Brooks was sixth in the long jump and Alysiah Whittaker was second in the shot put.
In GSU's 111 points, Showalter was the top scorer with 19 points with a first, third and sixth in her three distance events. Hannah Stefanoff and Niamh Kearney each scored nine points with two events. Carole Idolphine had eight points in her individual race and was on the third-place 4x400 relay team. Wande Brewer had seven individual points and was on the all-conference 4x100 relay team that finished second to earn eight team points as well as the third-place all-conference 4x400 relay team. Tatiana Colbert had six points in the 400m run and was on the second-place 4x100 team and the third-place 4x400 group. Anna Sinclair had six points in her two events, while Jennifer Rubel, Ravin Gilbert and Alysiah Whittaker scored five points. Talia Colbert had four points individually and was on the two scoring GSU relay teams to earn all-conference honors.
In Georgia State's first Sun Belt track meet last year, the Panthers finished seventh with 57 points. Georgia State's last track championship was in 2011 in the Colonial Athletic Association when it scored 133 points. This is the first time GSU has ever finished second in a conference track and field championship after having had five third-place team finishes in school history.
