Ball State Track and Field is spending part of their Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in Lexington at the University of Kentucky’s Jim Green Invitational.
The two day event kicked off Friday afternoon and several Cardinals placed in the top five for their respective events.
Junior high jumper Charity Griffith placed first in the Women’s high jump event and broke the Ball State indoor record by clearing 6-feet and does not see herself slowing down anytime soon.
“Honestly it is just a starting point for me. 6-feet is a really good marker for me but that’s not the end goal so I just want to keep improving,” Griffith said.
Griffith improved on what was a career best from the 2020 Mid-American Conference championships with 5 feet, 3 inches.
Elsewhere, graduate sprinter Payton Barlow won the Women’s 600 meters race and graduate sprinter MaQuila Norman placed third in the Women’s 300 meters, and sophomore Kayla Jones placed fourth in the Women’s 300 meters.
“I feel so good,” said Norman. “I’ve been really patient and I have been waiting for this moment, so for this to happen during the first meet felt so good and having a support system there made me so happy.”
Norman improved from her original best of 40.58 seconds to 39.6 seconds while also breaking the Cardinals’ indoor record.
On Saturday, Norman helped lead the Ball State 4x400 meter relay team to finish third overall, alongside freshman sprinter Emma Potter, sophomore sprinter Aaleiah Winford and senior sprinter Karlie Zumbro.
The last day of competition would also see freshman jumper McKenna Cinotte place sixth overall in the Women’s triple jump and freshman thrower Jenelle Rogers place 14th overall in the Women’s shot put.
Head coach Adrian Wheatley assured his team that these two day meets are the perfect warm-up for the team’s goal: the MAC championships.
“We always talk about the two day meets that we are competing in being the dress rehearsal for the big shows,” Wheatley said. “Our goal is to compete at a high level in the MAC championships, which is a two day meet, so this simulates a championship-type meet.”
Next Saturday the Cardinals head to Ann Arbor, Michigan for the Simmons-Harvey Invitational at the University of Michigan.
Contact Corbin Hubert with comments at cchubert@bsu.edu or on Twitter @corbin_hubert_