NaJ Watson took third in the 200 and qualified for the NCAA Prelims, and Imani Moore took second in the long jump to lead Georgia Southern track and field to an 11th-place finish at the Sun Belt Outdoor Championship Saturday at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium.
Watson ran the 200 in 23.31, and Moore posted a mark of 5.99m in the long jump, tied for the seventh-best in program history.
Watson took fifth in the 100 (11.59) and teamed with Lauren Euler, Megan Bolton and Moore to place fourth in the 4x400 relay. Kennedy Hood finished fifth in the long jump with a mark of 5.83m, which tied for the ninth best in program history.
Alondra Reyna-Lopez's time of 41:27.13 in the 10,000m is the eighth-best in school history, while Reece Connelly finished the race in 42:15.18, the ninth-fastest time at Georgia Southern. MaKenna Hillmer posted 3979 points in the heptathlon, which ranks 10th in program history.
Quotable from Coach David Neville
"The Eagles fought hard today and this weekend, and I'm proud of the work that they did. Though they may have been a small in numbers, they definitely came to fight, and we had some amazing surprises throughout the weekend, one of which was Imani Moore and the long jump. The outdoor season has been a bit shaky for her, but she came around just in time and got off a new personal best for the outdoor season. She, along with Kennedy Hood, were able to get some great points for our program."
"NaJ Watson continued to impress this past weekend as she qualified for the finals in the 100 and 200. She had a stumble at the start of the 100m dash but kept her composure and finished fifth. I'm very proud of how she kept her head on straight and didn't allow a previous mess up to deter her from having the success that she showed in the 200m final. I'm also very proud of how the women's 4 x 400m relay team fought to the finish and had a six second season best to finish fourth overall."
"This season was only the start of something that I believe will be amazing moving forward, and I can't wait to see how we are going to conference at this time next year."
Next up
Watson will compete in the 200 in the NCAA Prelims May 24-27 in Jacksonville, Florida.