Elon Women’s Track & Field Phoenix Earns Four Event Wins at JDL January College Kickoff

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Behind four event wins, the Elon University women’s track and field team opened 2020 with a strong showing at the JDL January College Kickoff Classic on Sunday, Jan. 19, inside the JDL Fast Track Complex.

RESULTS

Individually, Elon had victories from Skylar Barthelmes (shot put), Madison George (pole vault) and Alex Tudor (long jump) while also seeing its 4×800-meter relay team take gold in its race. The Phoenix also had six second-place finishers in its first meet of the 2020 calendar year.

“Very pleased with the results of the day,” said Elon Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mark Elliston. “Happy to see some positive results after a long break and saw a lot of great performances. We still have some areas to improve upon, but overall I was pleased with results from today.”

The Rundown
Barthelmes won the first event of the day for the maroon and gold in the shot put as the Dartmouth, Mass., native added her second event win of the indoor season in as many meets. The senior threw a new personal-best mark of 13.52m and moved into the program’s top-five performance list. Lauryn Carlton joined Barthelmes in the top-10 of the event with her throw of 11.94m in sixth.

In the long jump, Tudor edged out teammate Melody Burke for individual medalist honors. The sophomore had a mark of 5.59m in the event – moving into the top-five in program history. Burke matched Tudor with her mark of 5.59m, but needed more jumps to do so to finish as the runner-up.

George won the pole vault after defeating Appalachian State’s Celia Agee in a jump off for the event title. The freshman cleared the bar at 3.55m, marking the second-best jump in school history.

The Phoenix last win came from its 4×800-meter relay team of Stephanie Lair, Anna Twomey, Emily Smith and Gabriela Varisco de Oliveira. The quartet combined to clock a time of 9:35.14 – about 40 seconds faster than the runner-up in the event.

Jordan Haywood was the Phoenix’s top-runner in the 200-meter as she clocked a time of 25.97 as the runner-up. Tudor was third overall in the race with her time of 26.06. Freshman Aliya Barrows was second in the 400-meters with a time of 58.76.

Melissa Anastasakis was second in the 3,000-meters in her indoor season-debut with a time of 10:02.15. Freshman Hannah Miller was the runner-up in the one-mile run with her time of 5:14.80.

In the women’s weight throw, Charlotte Bradsher led the maroon and gold with her heave of 16.53m – the second-best mark in school history. She would finish second overall on the day while Carlton also broke into the program’s top-five performance list with a personal-best mark of 16.06m and was fourth overall.

On Deck
Elon returns to action next weekend, Jan. 24-25, traveling to Lynchburg, Va., to compete at the Liberty Kickoff.