Columbia Women's Track & Field Win Conference Championship
JOHNSON CITY, TN - The Columbia College women's track and field team took home the team conference championship at the 2025 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The three-day event was held at Tipton Stadium in Johnson City, Tenn. It is the Koalas' first conference championship since the 2022 outdoor team also took home the AAC title.
Columbia won the women's meet with 141 points, just four more than runner-up Montreat who had 137 points. MC led the team race heading into the final event of the day, the Discus throw. However, CC put two women in the finals of the event as the duo of senior Darci Dawson (37.5m) and sophomore Qu'Sondra Wideman (35.9m) went on to place 4th and 6th respectively to earn 8 team points and finish their rally from a four-point deficit. Montreat had earlier taken the late lead over CC by winning the 4x400 meter relay in 3:57.
Picking up individual event titles during the meet were 3x Indoor Champion, sophomore Latrice Brown in the 200 meters (24.5 seconds), 2025 indoor All-American Mackenzie Pringle in the Triple Jump (11.8m) and senior Mina Shull in the Women's 5000m Racewalk. The Lady Koala 4x100m relay team also won the event in a time of 47.6 seconds led by the team of Pringle, and sophomores Ashante Shaw, Mykayla Howard, and L. Brown.
Shull won the Racewalk in a time of 29:48 to set a conference record while Men's senior Dorde Racic of Columbia set the mark in the men's 5000 Racewalk on Friday with a time of 23:07 as well. Junior Jennyfer Vigueras (42:34) and freshman Amelia Nifong (45:52) followed Shull in the racewalk placing 2nd and third out of seven as the Koalas swept the podium for 24 team points.
CC finished 1st and 2nd on the podium in the Triple Jump with sophomore Makayla Blango coming in behind Pringle at 11.7m while Pringle also finished as runner-up in the 100m Hurdles in 14.1 seconds. Blango then led the way in the Long Jump placing 4th with a mark of 5.5 meters while Pringle was right behind in 6th place in 5.47m. Howard also finished 8th in nearly 5.1 meters as the trio combined for 9 team points.
Following Brown on the podium in the 200m was M. Howard as she placed 3rd in 25.2 seconds while A. Shaw was 6th in 25.6. Howard and Shaw were also 4th and 6th, respectively, in the 100 meters behind Latrice Brown who came in second place in 12 seconds. Howard came across in 12.18 while Shaw was in 12.3 seconds. Sophomore Kwamecia Marks was also 10th in the 100m in 12.5 seconds while finishing 10th as well in the 200m in 26.1 seconds.
In the 400m events, Columbia was led by Tylashia Alston finishing 6th in one minute while Ziykila Henderson placed 4th in the 400 Hurdles in 1:09 as the duo earned 8 team points. The 4x400 relay team was also 6th out of 10 in 4:15 led by Alston, Howard, Shaw and Brown.
In the other field events, Columbia did very well in the Hammer Throw on Friday placing 2nd and 3rd as sophomore Doreshia McAllister was 2nd at 46.1 meters and senior Anaya Canty was 3rd with a throw of 46 meters, Dawson also placed 7th out of 24 in 42.2 meters. Sophomore Azia Holmes led CC in the Javelin and Shot Put events as well finishing 9th of 14 in the Javelin in 27.3m on Thursday while she was 10th of 19 in the SP on Saturday with a throw of 10.5m.
Finally, in the other distance events, Columbia saw sophomore Juliana Gonzalez finish 15th in the 1500m on Friday evening in 5:08 while freshman Avarose Buccino came in 7th place in the 3000m steeplechase in 13:50 for two points. Gonzalez also placed 14th in the 5000m on Saturday morning in a time of 19:45. The 4x800m relay team also placed 10th on Thursday in 10:49 led by the team of Vigueras, Buccino, Gonzalez, and Shull, finishing just a few seconds from being in the top 8 to earn team points.
Brenau finished third in the team standings with 112 points while Milligan was 4th with 107 and Tenn. Wesleyan fifth to round out the top five women's teams.
https://www.aacsports.com/sports/mtrack-out/2024-25/releases/20250418yjndkw