ASU Women’s Track Team opens today

ALBANY, Ga. – Outdoor track and field season gets underway Saturday, Feb. 23 in Columbus, Georgia for the Albany State University women in the eight-week lead up to the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Championships at Rock Hill, South Carolina, April 18-20.

“All roads lead to the conference championship. We’re going to develop the women’s team toward peaking at the SIAC championship in April,” said Kenneth Taylor, ASU’s head coach since 2006.

Taylor is looking for his team to improve on its second place finish at the SIAC last spring with similar features and strengths it presented in 2018.

Among the top returners for the Gold Rams is top sprinter Dykearah Jones, who scored at the SIAC for the Rams in the high jump, long jump, pole vault, 100-meter dash and 200-meter. She barely missed qualifying for nationals, and Taylor says the focus will be keeping her healthy in 2019.

Throwers Ashley Harrell and Khadija Williams are ASU’s strong point once again. Taylor says he expects them to finish first and second in both the discus and javelin throws through the season.

Mid-Distance runner Channelle Wong and long distance runner Lauryn Wilson will be looked upon to lead the team in those categories. Wong is coming off a cross country season, which was hampered with illness, but Taylor says “she appears to be healthy now and we look to see her return to her top performances like the years before.”

Wilson led the distance team in the fall, including a runner-up finish at the SIAC Cross Country Championship.

“She’s got a big load to carry, because she’s kind of by herself as a distance runner, but we’re expecting better things from Lauryn on the track than in cross country. We’re getting her a lot stronger,” Taylor said.

Several other student-athletes will be in the mix through the season as Albany State travels to five meets in Georgia and Florida before hosting the Alice Coachman Invitational on March 30. The Rams will then travel to Georgia Southern University and Berry College before the SIAC Championship.