Improvement and success were measurable accomplishments for the 2014 track and field team in Georgia State's second season in the Sun Belt Conference.
The outdoor season saw Georgia State roll to a second-place finish at the Sun Belt Championships after the indoor season had seen the Panthers rise from seventh place to fifth. That outdoor finish netted GSU nine points in the Sun Belt's Bubas Cup scoring and the indoor placing added six points for the Panthers.
Individually, three athletes earned spots in the NCAA East Preliminaries after a year in 2013 when none had qualifying standards to reach that level. Eight athletes finished first, second or third at the championships to earn all-conference status in the Sun Belt Indoor Championships, then eight team members earned the all-conference level at the Sun Belt Outdoor Championships.
GSU had the Sun Belt Athlete of the Week winner four times: Niamh Kearney (indoors-Feb. 19), Tatiana Colbert (outdoors-March 17), Talia Colbert (outdoors-March 24), Niamh Kearney (outdoors-April 2).
This year's teams set four school records during the outdoor season, after having set three school marks in the indoor season.
“Over six months of competition from December through May, the team dramatically improved,” head coach Chris England said. “Every year, the goal is to win championships or at least improve on the previous year's results. I think these two teams can take pride in their performance in the classroom, in the community and in the athletic competition. Three athletes advanced to the NCAA East Preliminaries and one will represent us at the USATF Junior Outdoor Championships in July in Eugene, Oregon.”
Indoor Season
The second season in school history with an indoor track and field championship saw Georgia State rise from 31 points and seventh place in 2013 to 70 points and fifth place in 2014.
From December through February, the team competed in six indoor meets, setting three school records and dozens of personal bests along the way.
The indoor season started Dec. 6 in Birmingham with Niahm Kearney winning the 3,000-meter race in that 31-runner field. After the semester break and month competition break, GSU returned Jan. 10 at the UAB Invitational as Hannah Stefanoff won the 5,000m run to lead the Panthers.
Emory played host to an 18-team meet in Birmingham on Jan. 26 and GSU finished first in the team scoring. Tatiana Colbert won the 200-meter race and long jump, while sprinter Ravin Gilbert won the 60m dash. Freshman Alysiah Whittaker added her first win in the shot put and Stefanoff repeated with a win in the 3,000m run to pace Georgia State.
On Jan. 30, Anna Sinclair's win in the 3,000-meter run led GSU in the Southern Miss Invitational. The Panthers had five seconds and four thirds in this meet. Samford played host in Birmingham for a Feb. 7-8 meet when Stefanoff had a personal-best in the 5,000m run to finish second of 27 runners and added a fourth-place finish in the 58-runner 3,000m run. Tatiana Colbert ran the fastest 400m time of the indoor season.
Niamh Kearney set a school record in the mile run on Feb. 14 in the Cupid Classic in Birmingham, running a 4:54.47 to finish third of 50 runners. That fastest time of the Sun Belt season earned the junior from Ireland the Sun Belt Athlete-of-the-Week award.
GSU finished fifth in the 10-team Sun Belt Indoor Championships in Birmingham with 70 points. Kearney earned all-conference honors with a second-place finish in the mile and Tatiana Colbert took home an all-conference medal with a second-place finish in the 400-meter run. GSU set a school indoor record in the pentathlon and had a third-place finish. Talia Colbert's third in the 400m earned her All-Sun Belt accolades. GSU's 4x400 relay earned all-conference with a third-place finish. Whittaker set a school indoor record in the shot put with a fifth-place finish.
Outdoor Season
The March 15 opener at the JSU Quad Meet was a perfect warm-up act for the seven-meet regular season as GSU took 14 first-place finishes of the 16 events it competed. Tatiana Colbert won the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and 4x100-meter relay. That performance earned her Sun Belt Athlete of the Week.
During Spring Break, GSU went to Tampa to train and run in the 16-team USF Bulls Invite. The work paid off as Georgia State produced five first-place finishes, four second and four thirds, while the team had 10 personal-best efforts. Tatiana Colbert's 55.45 in the 400m was a winning personal-best time.
In Atlanta at the Yellow Jacket Invitational on March 28-29, Kearney won the 1,500-meter run with 47 competitors. Stefanoff won the 5,000m run in the 28-runner field.
The prestigious Florida Relays on April 4-5 offered GSU more challenges. Kearney ran a personal-best 4:26.64 in the 1,500-meter run, just one second off the school record. Showalter logged the second-fastest 3,000m steeplechase time in the school record book in finishing third of the 24 runners with a time that was among the 15 fastest in the East region for the season-to-date. Anna Sinclair had a season-best and personal-best sub-17-minute time in finishing sixth of the 45 runners in the 5,000m.
At the 17th Blue Shoes Invitational at Furman on April 12, Georgia State notched nine first-place finishes. Tatiana Colbert's 54.43 time in winning the 400-meter race was the third-fastest in school history and fastest in the Sun Belt season at that point.
At the Auburn War Eagle meet on April 18, Alysiah Whittaker set a school record in the shot put with a 47-10 ½ throw (14.59m) as she finished fifth of 29. She would break that record later in the season.
In the final regular-season meet on April 25-26 at Sun Belt-rival Troy, GSU had 11 first-place finishes. Whittaker broke her own shot put record with a 51-6 ¼ throw (15.70m) to post a distance that would qualify her for the NCAA East Preliminaries. Fellow freshman La Porscha Wells set a school mark in the hammer throw at 166-5 (50.72m). A third freshman, Kelsey Gray, set a school record in the javelin with a throw of 114-04 (34.85m).
At the Sun Belt Conference Championships in San Marcos, Texas, Georgia State had a sensational third day to climb from sixth place to second. The Panthers scored 76 of their 111 total points on the final day, mostly in track events. The second-place finish with 111 points was superior to last year's 57 points and fifth-place effort. If it were a track-only meet, GSU's 103 points in the track portion were the most as winner Western Kentucky had 78 points in track. But the Hilltoppers scored 95 points in field events, while GSU scored eight in those competitions.
Katharine Showalter was a conference champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Junior Carole Idolphine finished second in the 400m hurdles to earn All-Sun Belt Conference status. Tatiana Colbert was third in the 400m run and Showalter was third in the 1,500m event to both claim all-conference status. GSU's 4x100 relay team (Tatiana Colbert, Wande Brewer, Katherine Randolph and Ravin Gilbert) were second to earn the all-conference recognition. The 4x400 relay team earned all-conference status by finishing third (Colbert twins, Brewer, Idolphine). Brewer set a school record in the 200m race, but finished fourth.
Showalter scored 19 points in the conference championship to finish sixth overall. Brewer added 10.5 points and Stefanoff 10 points. Tatiana Colbert and Idolphine each had 9.5 points and Kearney added nine more points.
NCAA East Preliminaries
Freshman Alysiah Whittaker, sophomore Ravin Gilbert and senior Katharine Showalter posted qualifying standards to move on to the NCAA East Preliminaries in Jacksonville, Fla. on May 29-31.
Whittaker had the second-longest throw of her freshman season 49-08 ½ (15.15m) to place 29th of the 48 competitors. Gilbert's 11.92 was well off her personal-best 11.59 as she finished 36th of the 48 in 11.92, just .11 from moving on to the next round. Showalter's 10:49.70 in the 3,000m steeplechase left her 43rd of the 48 runners as she was 24 seconds from her personal-best time in that event.
USATF Junior Nationals
Whittaker qualified to compete in the shot put in the Junior National Championships on July 5-6 in Eugene, Ore. This meet is for competitors at least 14 years of age and not yet 20 in 2014. Whittaker turned 19 in March. The 2014 USATF Junior Outdoor Championships will serve as a qualifier for the 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships. Top performers will be part of the American team that will have the unique opportunity to return to Eugene from July 22-27.
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