SoCon Championships

Saturday, April 27

Birmingham, Ala.

8 a.m.

Mercer University

SoCon Championships

Photo by: Todd Drexler

4/28/2019 8:09:00 PM | Track & Field

Bears medal in seven events on second day of conference championship meet

By: Gerrit W. Van Genderen

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The 4x100-meter relay and 4x400-meter relay events earned 13 total medals on the second day of the 2019 Southern Conference Track and Field Championships at the Samford Track and Soccer Stadium.

Cherrish Wright, Lauryn Dancy, Tessola Duncan and Kennedi Weston-Shields earned the gold medal in the 4x100-meter relay with a school-record finish of 45.71 seconds. Weston-Shields and Duncan later teamed up with Marion Meadows and Madison Mueller to claim Mercer's second gold medal, running the 4x400-meter relay in 3:47.27.

"I'm amazed by what our girls did in Birmingham this weekend," said head coach Jerod Wims. "I knew we'd do well in the sprints at some point, but not this soon. It still hasn't hit me yet at how impressive our team is…we're only going to get better."

Mercer's wins in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays are the second and third gold medals earned by the Bears in the last two years; Alex Williams brought home Mercer's first SoCon gold by winning the 2018 triple jump event.

An impressive day across the board saw Wright earn three individual medals in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and 100-meter hurdles. Wright tied her own school record of 11.87 seconds and placed third in the 100-meter dash. She placed second and third in the 100-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash, respectively, setting school records in both with times of 14.02 and 24.01 seconds.

Weston-Shields took third in the 400-meter dash with a school-record time of 56.18. Madison Mueller won bronze in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.81. Myranda Ham placed sixth overall in the women's heptathlon with 4,178 points.

WOMEN'S STANDINGS
1. Samford – 228
2. Wofford – 126
3. Western Carolina – 119
4. ETSU – 100
5. Furman – 91
T6. VMI – 31
T6. The Citadel – 31
8. Chattanooga – 15
9. UNCG – 8
*Mercer vacated their team finish due to an ineligible student-athlete

SUNDAY RESULTS
4x100 Meter Relay
1. Mercer (Cherrish Wright, Lauryn Dancy, Tessola Duncan, Kennedi Weston-Shields) – 45.71

4x400 Meter Relay
1. Mercer (Marion Meadows, Kennedi Weston-Shields, Tessola Duncan, Madison Mueller) – 3:47.27

100 Meter Dash Finals
3. Cherrish Wright – 11.87 (ties school record)
4. Lauryn Dancy – 12.00
7. Tessola Duncan – 12.19

100 Meter Hurdles
2. Cherrish Wright – 14.02 (school record)

200 Meter Dash Finals
3. Cherrish Wright – 24.01 (school record)
5. Tessola Duncan – 24.67
9. Lauryn Dancy – 25.24

400 Meter Dash Finals
3. Kennedi Weston-Shields – 56.18 (school record)

400 Meter Hurdles Finals
3. Madison Mueller – 1:02.81
9. Myranda Ham – 1:10.52

5000 Meter Run
11. Ashley McMahon – 18:45.09
23. Marina Van Sickle – 19:43.66
28. Madison Cowart – 20:21.20

Heptathlon 800 Meter Run
4. Myranda Ham – 2:35.74

Heptathlon Javelin Throw
4. Myranda Ham – 29.00m

Heptathlon Long Jump
9. Myranda Ham – 4.78m

Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Track & Field, follow the team at @MercerXCTF (Twitter), /mercerxctf (Facebook) and visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.