Newport News, VA – The Penn State Harrisburg men's and women's track and field teams competed Sunday February 21st in the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Christopher Newport. The Lions in just their second season of NCAA Division III competition had two CAC title winners. Ashley Williams (Easton, PA / Easton Area High School) took home the women's 60 meter hurdle title and Jalil Clayton (Chester, PA / Chester High School) took home a first place finish in the men's high jump.
Williams helped the women to almost double their team point output from the previous year's CAC Championships with her 9.03 finish in the hurdles. Even more impressive is the fact that Williams now also holds the CAC meet record, beating last year's champ Enuma Ezenwa's time by .07 seconds.
Other female Lion competitors in the CAC Championships included Kaitlyn Gould (Camp Hill, Pa. / Cedar Cliff) who finished 14th in the 800 meter, Logan Ackers took 12th place in the mile, Janelle Codling (Queens, N.Y. / St. Francis Prep) finished 15th in the 60 meter dash, and Fallon Joseph (Stroudbsurg, PA / Stroudsburg) and Rachale Hair (Newburg, Pa / Big Springs) took 13th and 14th in the shot put.
The Penn State Harrisburg men were led by Clayton who took first place in the high jump with his 1.93m leap. His jump was good enough to earn him a CAC title as well as ten points for the men's overall point total. Clayton is the first athlete to win a CAC Championship in track and field for Penn State Harrisburg.
Clayton also earned a 4th place finish in the 200 meter run individually and a third place finish in the 4x400 meter relay alongside teammates Isaiah Waters (Montclair, NJ / Montclair High School), Vladhimir Theophile (Reading, PA / Cherry Hill East High School), and Korey Christian. Josiah Owhe (Westbury, N.Y. / Westbury) took a point for his 6th place finish in the 60 meter dash. While Jared Alpaugh (Wilmington, DE / Concord High School) took sixth in the long jump with his 6.25 leap to round out the point scorers for Penn State Harrisburg.
The Penn State Harrisburg men finished in sixth place overall and unfortunately the women finished in seventh. Both teams have athletes who now are getting ready for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships March 4-5. Some athletes are also in contention to be the first Penn State Harrisburg Track and Field member to make their way to the NCAA Championships.