by Benny Benton
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Barton College track and field teams got in some competition on Saturday at the Aggie Invitational, but with wind gusts topping 40 miles per hour, just finishing seemed like an achievement.
No school records were set, and the only two career-best performances of the day – Nihgel Scott's in the men's 200 (22.79 seconds) and Tyamber Neal's in the women's 200 (30.39 seconds) – won't officially count as personal records because they were wind-aided.
Despite the cold, blustery conditions, Barton was able to post a trio of top-five finishes in the meet.
Sophomore Justin Alford recorded the best place finish of his career in the men's pole vault, finishing second among 10 participants in the event with a mark of 3.65 meters, just .05 off his school record.
Freshman Lawrence Russell Jr. claimed the other top-five finish for Barton on the men's side after placing fifth among 20 in the triple jump. However, his wind-aided mark of 13.35 meters was nearly a half-meter shy of his school record.
Scott placed sixth out of 36 in the 400-meter run with a time of 50.39 seconds, and junior Semaj Street earned top-10s in both the 100-meter dash (8th of 38, 10.82 seconds) and 200-meter dash (7th of 40, 22.10 seconds). Both of Street's marks were wind-aided.
On the women's side, junior Heather Cuddington recorded a fifth-place finish among 28 competitors in the 1500-meter run with a time of 5:13.31, and junior Devin Heath claimed sixth out of 13 runners in the 400-meter hurdles with a mark of 1:10.02.
Ciera Williams did establish a benchmark PR by competing in the long jump for the first time collegiately. The freshman posted a mark of 3.93 meters while finishing 20th out of 27 participants.
Barton will hope for better weather conditions next Saturday when it takes part in the Lowcountry Collegiate Invitational, which will be hosted by The Citadel in Mount Pleasant, S.C.
