Dukes Conclude Competition At Sykes & Sabock Challenge Cup

Friday, February 5

University Park, Pa.

1:30 p.m.

James Madison University

Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup

Dukes Conclude Competition At Sykes & Sabock Challenge Cup

2/6/2016 2:53:00 PM | Track & Field

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Featuring multiple personal records, an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) qualifying time and yet another school record, the James Madison track & field team completed the 2016 Indoor Sykes & Sabock Challenge Cup, hosted by Penn State, on Saturday afternoon.

"It was a good meet for us as a whole," said Head Coach Chereé Hicks. "We saw a lot of personal records and season-best performances this weekend. Things started to click better this week and, once again, it was a good experience for the team against good competition."

The extraordinary has become commonplace for graduate student Amber Monroe, who has broken the James Madison women's track & field program record for indoor shot put in each meet she has competed in as a Duke. After achieving a distance of 15.60 meters at last weekend's Thundering Herd Invite, the Miami, Fla. native improved her mark to 16.21 meters on Saturday. The distance fell only .03 meters short of the previous meet record, which was set by Ohio State's Krista Keir in 2002, that was broken today by Penn State's Rachel Fatherly (17.27 meters). According to the Track & Field Results Reporting System (TFFRS), Monroe's throw was the 23rd best in the nation for the 2016 season coming into this weekend.

Also delivering an impressive performance was junior Tessa Mundell, who finished the one-mile run in 4:58.47, a personal record that beat her previous mark of 5:01.88 from the 2015 Sykes & Sabock Challenge Cup. The time surpasses the ECAC qualifying time of 4:59.04 to give the Dukes another eligible participant in the 2016 Indoor ECAC Championships. Also running in the one-mile run and setting a personal record was sophomore Erica Gray, who crossed the finish line with a time of 5:02.25.

In the 800-meter run, freshman Erica Jackson set a personal record with a time of 2:16.46, topping her time of 2:17.29 from the 2016 Kentucky Invitational. With several other freshmen competiting in the meet, including several in events for the first time in their collegiate careers, it was a good day overall for the freshman class.

"The freshman are getting used to collegiate competition now and have been stepping it up," said Hicks. "It's always great to see them improving."

Sophomore Aereale Scott built upon yesterday's success with another collegiate-career personal record. Her time of 25.88 in the indoor 200-meter dash showed an improvement over her time of 26.08 from the 2015 Sykes & Sabock Challenge Cup.

DAY ONE RESULTS
Information about the Dukes' performance on day one of the Sykes & Sabock Challenge Cup can be found here with official results found here.

UP NEXT
James Madison returns to action next weekend when it competes in split-squad meets for the second time this season. Both Boston University's Boston Valentine Meet and Liberty University's Liberty Quad will take place on Friday, Feb. 12. Stay tuned to JMUSports.com and @JMUTrackField on Twitter for more information on both meets in the coming days.