Garner and Miller Finish 1-2 in High Jump in Fort Worth - in Outdoor Season's First Event

FORT WORTH, Texas — Nina Garner and Malina Miller finished first and second in the high jump Friday afternoon at the TCU Alumni Invite, helping Ball State capture 23 team points in the opening events of the Cardinals’ first outdoor meet. In fact, Bella Jackson finished fifth for Ball State, with Cardinals competitors out-jumping opponents from SMU (T-3rd), Oklahoma (T-3rd) and Baylor (two tied for 6th).

Ball State sits in first place after the first three out of 19 events. The bulk of the meet, 16 of 19 events, takes place on Saturday. Trailing Ball State are Oklahoma (15.5) and North Texas (10).

Garner and Miller both started their sequence at 1.65 meters, and both breezed through heights at 1.65, 1.68 and 1.70 without incident. Garner, a freshman, missed her first two attempts at 1.75m, just off her career-best of 1.76, but cleared the bar on her third jump. She was the only one of four competitors to clear the 1.75m height, and she missed on three tries at 1.78. Miller secured second place by reaching her final height with no prior misses. Jackson used eight attempts to clear the 1.70 height, but was one of the four who couldn’t keep up with Garner when she cleared 1.75.

Junior Sydney Miller threw the discus a personal best of 45.78 meters to finish eighth and score Ball State’s final point in team standings.

“”We had a solid day one for our team,” said Ball State coach Adrian Wheatley. “Our high jumpers and throwers really took advantage of the opportunity to compete today. They’ve been putting in a lot of work on their technical preparation, so it’s always great to see them execute.”

Ball State entries at the TCU Alumni Invite:

FRIDAY EVENTS

High Jump

1st, Nina Garner, Fr. — 1.75m

2nd, Malina Miller, Jr. — 1.70m

5th, Bella Jackson, Sr. — 1.70m

Discus

8th, Sydney Miller, Jr. — 45.78m PR

115h, Malena Higgins, Sr. — 42.47m PR

Hammer Throw

17th, Malena Higgins, Sr. — 44.04m

NM, Sydney Miller, Jr. — foul

SATURDAY EVENTS

Shot Put

Malena Higgins

Sydney Miller

Long Jump

Anisa Barnett

Kylee Marshall

Kenli Nettles

Javelin

Maci Easton

4x100m Relay

Laya’Lapri Ratney, Jiah Davenport, Lauren Graham, Paige Kirtz, Savannah Lake, Kylee Marshall, Alana Springer

100m Hurdles

Lauren Graham

Lia Patterson

Laya’Lapri Ratney

400m Dash

Abby Brennan

Paige Kirtz

100m Dash

Jiah Davenport

Savannah Lake

Alana Springer

400m Hurdles

Lauren Graham

Amina Hadziahmetovic

Kenli Nettles

Lia Patterson