COLUMBIA, S.C. | Charminiqu Hackney jumped into the national spotlight Saturday with her performances at the Gamecock Invitational, hosted by the University of South Carolina.
Hackney ran the fastest time in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in the 100-meters Saturday as she crossed the line second overall, but as the top collegiate student-athlete in 11.20 seconds. The mark topped her previous best of 11.52 seconds, and has her fourth in the nation in the event after this weekend. She is behind just Kayla White (North Carolina A&T), Ka'Tia Seymour (Florida State), and two student-athletes tied for third in Sha'Carri Richardson (LSU) and Natalliah Whyte (FAU).
She also finished first in the 200-meters with a time of 22.95 to take the top spot in the conference over her previous mark of 23.72 seconds. She is tied for third in the country behind Anavia Battle (Ohio State) and Mauricia Prieto (Alabama); while she is currently tied with Daija Lumpkin (Alabama).
Several other student-athletes finished in the top 10 in the event, including
Arion Span in the 800-meters in a time of 2:10.48. She finished second overall in the race, and took the top spot in the conference she set at the Pepsi Florida Relays (2:11.25). In the same event,
Vinnelle Grant finished ninth overall with a time of 2:16.39.
Kyana Evans and
Shamaria Lovett finished back-to-back in the 400-meter hurdles, with Evans finishing sixth with a time of 1:03.44 and Lovett seventh in a time of 1:04.50. Meanwhile, the 4x100-meter relay team finished fourth overall – second collegiately behind South Carolina – with a time of 44.26 seconds, the time took the top spot in the conference that Lady Hornets held from the UNF Spring Break Invitational (45.03 seconds).
On the men's side,
Andrew Jackson finished ninth overall in the 800-meters with a time of 1:53.89; the third best time in the conference. Meanwhile,
Joshua Coffelt finished fifth in the 1,500-meters with a time of 4:01.79, while
Kevin Smith finished 10th overall with a time of 4:04.74 – the fourth fastest time in the conference. Smith also finished the 3,000-meter Steeplechase with a time of 10:22.73, the third fastest time in the conference this season.
Meanwhile, the 4x400-meter relay team finished seventh overall in the event with a time of 3:31.37. The time is the second fastest in the conference this season, while
Jamie Brown finished in the top six in a pair of events. Brown finished second in the long jump with a distance of 7.37 meters (24-04.50) and sixth in the triple jump with a distance of 14.76 meters (48-05.25). Meanwhile,
Marcus Cade finished seventh in the long jump with a distance of 6.99 meters (22-11.25).
Alabama State returns to action next weekend at the War Eagle Invitational in Auburn.
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