Nambawa leads MT track teams Sunday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Middle Tennessee men's and women's track teams returned to action Sunday at Ninth Annual Ed Temple Classic hosted by Tennessee State University.

Although the Blue Raider did not take a full team to the meet, the teams competed in 17 total events, including 10 on the women's side, and claimed six victories.

Coach Hayes commented, "We don't have everyone back from break and this is another opportunity for us to see exactly where our team stands early in the season."

The women's team was led by All-American Sarah Nambawa. Nambawa won the triple jump with a mark of 42 feet, 0 inches (12.80m) among the 10 competitors and captured the long jump with a mark of 19-3.25 (5.87m) in a field of 25.

Brittany Box broke her own school record of 59-0.25 in the weight throw with a toss of 60-02.00.

MeLyn Thompson gave the women's squad another individual triumph in the field events, finishing first during the competition. Thompson's heave of 46-4 (6.39m) topped the field of 15 throwers.

On the track, Zamzam Sangau blitzed past her fellow participants to win the 800 meters in a time of 2 minutes, 19.45 seconds.

She then ran the third leg of the distance medley relay, joining Ashley Comstock, Erika Palmer and Kristen Tithof on the winners' stand after the quartet placed first following a time of 12:10.53.

Greg Franklin was the only men's individual champion for the Blue Raiders. He captured the 55m title with a time of 6.39, three one-hundreths of a second faster than he ran in the preliminaries.

Four other events saw men's Middle Tennessee participants garner top-five finishes, led by a second-place result of 7.60 by Roscoe Payne in the 55m hurdles.

The Blue Raider track & field teams will return to action Friday and Saturday at the Kentucky Invitational in Lexington, Ky.

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