by Benny Benton
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Barton College sophomore Sharon Kiptoo won the 800-meter run, finished runner-up in the mile and anchored BC's second-place 4x400-meter relay squad in leading the Lady Bulldogs to a sixth-place showing at the 2016 Conference Carolinas Indoor Championships on Sunday at JDL Fast Track.
The Eldoret, Kenya, resident claimed the 800-meter crown in a time of 2:19.85, which broke both the meet record of 2:21.53 set by Ashly Sutherland of Converse College in 2014 and her own school record of 2:20.57, posted earlier this month at the Buccaneer Invitational in Tennessee. Kiptoo won the event by roughly three and a half seconds over runner-up Bailee Henry from University of Mount Olive in leading a field of 23.
The Hampton University transfer, who was competing in her first league meet, also broke the Barton school record in the mile while racing to a runner-up finish among 17 competitors. Kiptoo completed the event in a time of 5:17.51, which surpassed Ericka Skinner's 2013 Barton record. She finished exactly one second behind race winner Paulena Kremling from University of Mount Olive.
A third Barton record was broken on Sunday, that one falling in the distance medley. The team of Heather Cuddington, Tameeka Williford, Jayvona McDaniel and Judith Melly produced a mark of 13:32.39 to cut 26 seconds off the previous BC standard set in the same meet last year. The foursome trailed only North Greenville University in the event, giving Barton its first runner-up finish of the day.
BC's other relay group, the 4x400 team, provided the final second-place finish. Competing in the last event of the day, the quartet of Eva Amo-Mensah, Alexandria Robinson, Jamicia Jones and Kiptoo delivered a season-best time of 4:05. 61 to defeat everyone except the foursome from North Greenville.
In-between those bookend results, the Lady Bulldogs also received a second-place finish from freshman Courtney Ricks in the 60-meter hurdles. The Suffolk, Va., resident reached the finals with a runner-up showing of 9.67 seconds in the preliminary round, then backed up that finish by placing second again in the finals with a mark of 6.53.
In doing so, Ricks joined Kiptoo and the relay teams as All-Conference Carolinas honorees. Competitors reaching the podium are named First Team, Second Team or Third Team based on their finish.
Ricks also earned eight points for the runner-up finish, part of 48 collected by the team in placing sixth. The Lady Bulldogs trailed fifth-place King University by just over two points and finished ahead of seventh-place Belmont Abbey by just over three points. Mount Olive won the meet for the third straight year with 186 points.
In addition to scoring from Ricks, Kiptoo and the two relay teams, Barton also received three points from Jones for a sixth-place finish in the 800-meter run and three more combined points in the 400-meter run, where Amo-Mensah and Robinson claimed seventh and eighth, respectively.
Amo-Mensah set an indoor personal record with her run of 1:00.69 in the 400, one of four PRs recorded in addition to those earned as part of school records. Running in the same event, Devin Heath set a PR of 1:05.23 while placing 13th. Melly improved her 3000-meter PR for the third straight meet with a mark of 12:09.81, and senior Amber Wilson posted her career best in the shot put with a toss of 7.50 meters.
The Lady Bulldogs will now begin preparation for the outdoor season, which kicks off March 18 and 19 with the Shamrock Invitational in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
