Indoor track and field records at Ashland University are being broken on a weekly basis, and the Fourth
Jud Logan Light Giver Open was no exception.
On Saturday's (Feb. 8) second and final day of the meet, senior
Lily Dowdell once again broke the program mark in the women's mile run, set earlier this season by herself. She won the event in 4:51.65 – making her the only AU women's indoor runner to go sub-five minutes in the mile, and she's done it twice this winter.
"It's one of the reasons we brought Lily in," said
Jacob Sussman, Ashland distance coach and Director of Track & Field Operations, "was to kind of be like a program re-starter, to get it back to what we have had in the past on the women's side. She's been doing just that, and I couldn't be any happier."
Then, in the women's 800-meter run, junior
Jade Avance broke her own school mark by placing second in 2:09.03.
Ashland athletes earned their share of improved and provisional marks for the 2025 NCAA Division II Championships, March 13-15 in Indianapolis, Ind., in addition to Dowdell and Avance:
- Junior Daylen Madison won the men's 800 run in an improved provo time of 1:51.24.
- "Daylen winning, he's just a gamer. He loves racing," Sussman said. "Put him in those races, and he'll do what he needs to do."
- The men's 4x400 relay improved its provo time to 3:12.19 in winning that event. Ashland's quartet was senior Colin Hunkele, sophomore Brian Turner, and seniors Ethan Schuster and Noah Wood.
- Senior D.J. Duncan (second, 7.82 seconds) and redshirt freshman Ty Allen (sixth, 8.15 seconds) earned improved and new provo times, respectively, in the men's 60 hurdles.
- Fifth-year Aniya Seward (8.58 seconds) and sophomore Odessa Smith (8.67 seconds) finished 1-2 in the women's 60 hurdles with improved provo times.
- Graduate Alena Williams' 7.58 seconds in the prelims of the women's 60 dash was an improved provo.
- In the women's shot put elite, senior Kelsey Kinsley was seventh with a new provo mark of 14.01 meters/45-feet-11¾.
- Junior Nate Slater had an improved provo in the men's mile (fifth, 4:05.28), and sophomore Zach Vales earned a new provo (sixth, 4:08.80).
- Senior Mia Gardner earned a new provo time in the women's 400 dash (seventh, 56.36 seconds).
The men's 60 hurdles was a much-anticipated event, as Eagle assistant coach
T.J. Skinner won in 7.81 seconds, and former AU national champion and 2024 U.S. Olympian
Trevor Bassitt was third in 8.01 seconds.
Williams won the women's 60 dash in 7.60 seconds, with sophomore
Hayley Rios taking third in 7.68 seconds. Rios also was second in the women's long jump (5.67 meters/18-feet-7¼).
Senior
Wyatt Cory was runner-up in the men's heptathlon with 5,047 points, while finishing third were sophomore
Molly Winner in the women's shot put elite (14.76 meters/48-feet-5¼), junior
Garrett Baker in the men's pole vault elite (5.16 meters/16-feet-11), and junior
Abby Wheeler in the women's high jump (tied, 1.65 meters/5-feet-5).
UP NEXT
Friday and Saturday (Feb. 14-15) at Kent State's Doug Raymond National Qualifier.
