Story Links

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville track and field season has officially begun, with the team competing at their first indoor meet of the year at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational.

The meet marked the beginning of the Diego Vela era as head coach, as the longtime assistant was named head coach this summer. 

Vela and assistant coach Jordon Garman’s squad competed in a number of events from field, short and long distance starting with long jump Friday morning. 

Ma’Kala Davis kicked things off with a sixth-place finish in the long jump. Davis was held out for a large part of last season due to injury but hit her stride early, notching a 5.84m jump. Davis led the JU contingency with Sanaa Geter placing 22nd (5.41m), Julia Sue-Kam-Ling in 25th (5.25m), freshman Samaryah White in 32nd (5.17m) and Kailyn Murphy in 37th (4.79).

In the high jump, sophomore Eva Bellot took home a 15th place finish with a 1.55m leap. 

Competing in the mile run, freshman Isabel DeVos continued her stellar first college season with a 22nd place finish and a time of 5:16.08. Jordan Dix, Madeline Weiler and Alexis Holmes placed 26th, 27th and 28th respectively. 

Taking on the 400m dash, Savannah Chadic posted a blazing fast time of 55.85 and secured fourth place overall. Kemaj Moore took home 10th with a time of 57.65.

Josephine Leonard paced the JU contingency in the 800 with a time of 2:25.18. Annah Priyadi (2:25.36) and Eryn Field (2:25.56) finished just behind her in 14th and 15th place respectively. 

Guatemalan Olympian Mariandree Chacon took home 8th place in the 200m dash with a time of 24.47, just .02 seconds behind the seventh-place finisher. 

Rounding out the day was the ever exciting 4x400m relay, with Jacksonville’s team taking home seventh place. The squad posted a time of 3:49.97 to secure seventh place overall.

COACH’S COMMENTS

“It was great to open our indoor season in Gainesville against the best teams from Florida, and professional athletes,” Vela said of his first meet as a head coach. “They did their best today, and we are so proud of the team. We had some really good performances that are going to lead their events in the ASUN conference rankings. Now, it’s time to go back to practice to keep the momentum going.”

NEXT UP

Jacksonville travels back to Gainesville Jan. 23-24 for the RADD Sports College Invitational. The meet will be held at the Alachua County Sports Complex and streamed on FloTrack.