Outstanding Feet
Sport is often referred to as “a game of inches.” And that’s exactly how Marlo Mincey (‘04, ‘07), head coach of the Georgia Southern track and field team, described the Lady Eagles third-place finish at this year’s Southern Conference (SoCon) Indoor Championships. Held on March 1 and 2 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the Championships mark the conclusion of the indoor track season and start of the spring outdoor season.
“This team is arguably the most well-rounded we’ve had here in a while,” Mincey said. “They were inches away from making history and finishing second.”
Although Georgia Southern posted 119 points overall, its fourth-highest points total in team history, the Eagles were nudged out of second place as score adjustments from earlier in the competition moved Appalachian State into the runner-up spot with 120.5 points. Western Carolina won its second-straight title with 132 points. Over the two-day event, Georgia Southern athletes recorded 35 personal bests. The Eagles stood on the presentation podium nine times, highlighted by two individual championships and the 4x400m relay team title.
Mincey, a 12-time All-Southern Conference honoree, is excited to coach a team that she once competed on. She earned her undergraduate degree from Georgia Southern in exercise science in 2004 as well as her master’s degree in sport management in 2007.
“It feels great to mentor a program that I helped start and to see the athletes continue the traditions that those before them set in place,” Mincey said. “I want to see Georgia Southern be a cross country and track and field powerhouse, and I know that is more than possible.”
In addition to the Eagles overall team accomplishments, the Hazlehurst, Georgia, native is pleased because many athletes from this year’s team added their names to the Georgia Southern record books.
“They have matured as athletes. We are a very young team and we will continue to develop year after year,” Mincey said. “I can’t say I’m surprised by performances, because I tend to expect them to be great every time they perform. They are a very talented group and they have very few limits.”
Junior Jasmin Walker from Fairburn, Georgia, ended her SoCon career with two indoor Long Jump championships, while two University records fell when freshman thrower Kelsey Arnold from Jonesboro, Georgia, smashed her previous best for a 16.97m (55-8.25) in the Weight Throw. Sherril McFarlane, a graduate student from Jamaica, clipped .02 seconds off her own school record in the 800m with a time of 2:10.54.
“This season has meant a lot to me because it will be my last time competing on a collegiate level. It is kind of bittersweet, but I enjoyed every moment of my seasons with these wonderful athletes,” McFarlane said. “The team’s success has meant a lot for Georgia Southern. You are not only fighting for a title but in the process you are creating a lifetime bond with individuals.”
McFarlane, along with Dana Edwards, a senior from Athens, Georgia, Cherrelle King, a junior from Elmont, New York, and Asha Stegall, a freshman from Tuskeegee, Alabama, paced Georgia Southern to its best SoCon championship time in the 4x400m Relay since 2007, with a 3:50.02 mark. The quartet finished more than a second ahead of second-place Appalachian State.
Walker took second place in the 60m Dash at SoCon and improved her personal best to 7.51 seconds, to move into second on the track program’s all-time list. Sophomore Alyssa Felton from Lithonia, Georgia, had a second-place finish in the 60m Hurdles and her 8.74 time moved her to fifth on the Eagles’ chart.
“The coaching I’ve received at Georgia Southern over the past two years has helped me reach goals I never thought possible,” Felton said. “My coach (Mincey) has been very optimistic throughout my college career. She’s trained me in new events…I appreciate her for that.”
In the 400m event, Stegall ran the first sub-56 second race of the season, good for second place and the No. 2 spot on the Eagles’ all-time list. Southern’s Aarian Tipton, a senior from Wichita, Kansas, took third in the 200m Dash. Her time of 24.81 ranks fourth in Eagles history.
In one of the final events of SoCon, sophomore Ashleigh Rasheed from Decatur, Georgia, launched herself into the Georgia Southern record books as well with her Triple Jump performance, eclipsing the 12-meter mark for the second time in her career, with a 12.31 meter (40-4.75) performance good for second place in the event.
The outdoor season picked up where the indoor season ended, with 12 Eagles setting personal bests with two event victories and six top-eight finishes on the first day of the FSU Relays. The highlight was when McFarlane broke the five-year-old university record in the 1500m, with a time of 4:41:09. On day two, the 4x400m relay team raced to a time of 3:42:20, the third-best all-time in Georgia Southern history, and Edwards ran a leg in the relay, and set school records in the 400m hurdles (4th all time), 100m dash (3rd), and 200m (4th). Georgia Southern closed the weekend posting 24 individual personal bests.
When asked about these new individual feats, McFarlane stressed that building the best team is still the University’s main goal. “A successful team equals unity and individuals from different ethnic backgrounds coming together as one,” McFarlane said. “It is important that we succeed as a team and to show others how serious team success is to Georgia Southern.”
With all the success the indoor track and field program has seen this year, Coach Mincey still has her sights set higher for Georgia Southern. “I would like to see the program represented more on a national stage…We are improving each year. We are moving athletes into regional rankings and soon they will be in the national rankings.” – Steven Hannan
Records in the Field
Jordan Fordham
Atlanta, Ga., Sophomore
200m Dash (25.05) – Samford Multi & Invitational, 2013 (Fifth on Georgia Southern’s all-time indoor performance list)
Keyanna Harris
West Orange, N.J., Sophomore
High Jump, 1.65m (5-5) – SoCon Indoor Championships, 2014 (Fourth on the Eagles’ career list)
Sherril McFarlane Westmoreland
Jamaica, Grad Student
Mile Run (5:06.51) – JDL Fast Track, MEAC Indoor Championships, 2013
McFarlane took more than a full second off the previous Eagle record, which was set in 2005 by Brittney Jett (Swick).
Ashleigh Rasheed
Decatur, Ga., Sophomore
North Carolina Education Lottery Student-Athlete of the Week (Feb. 5). A sophomore political science major, Rasheed holds a 4.0 cumulative GPA. She competed in her first Pentathlon of the season at Clemson’s Bob Pollock Classic, finishing with one of the top-five point totals in Eagle program history.
Jasmin Walker
Fairburn, Ga., Junior
60m Dash (7.51) – SoCon Indoor Championships, 2014. (Fourth all-time on the Georgia Southern list)
Long Jump, 5.83m (19’1.50”) – SoCon Indoor Championships, 2014. (Eighth all-time on the Georgia Southern list)
200m Dash (25.08) – Samford Multi & Invitational, 2013 (Sixth on Georgia Southern’s all-time indoor performance list)
For a complete list of this season’s track and field record-breakers and personal bests, visit GSEagles.com.