McAllister Wins AAC Hammer Throw Title, Qualifies for Nationals

BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. - Women's Track and Field Hammer Thrower, junior Doreshia McAllister, won the individual Hammer title at the AAC Outdoor Meet on Thursday afternoon setting a school record, a meet record, and a personal record in the process to earn 10 team points for the Lady Koalas. The AAC Outdoor Championships are being held at Montreat College in the NC mountains.

The Columbia College women, the defending outdoor champions, are currently in 1st place out of 14 schools in the team standings through nine events on day two with 53 points, and 2.5 points ahead of second place Brenau.

McAllister's throw of 52.38 meters (171 ft) is the 17th-best mark in all of the NAIA and qualifies her for the National NAIA Meet in Mid-May. Senior Hali Doctor also competed and finished in 9th place, just missing earning a team point by a few inches, as she threw a mark of 40 meters (131 ft) while junior Jada Robinson finished 12th at 37.7 meters. McAllister's throw was so impressive that she would've finished 4th in the Men's Hammer Throw standings.

During Friday afternoon's 4x100 relay, the Lady Koalas also took first place winning the race in a 25th ranked NAIA time of 47.39 seconds for a season-best time and 10 team points. The relay team featured sophomore Faith Eugene, junior Kwamecia Marks, sophomore Tylashia Alston, and sophomore Jayla Graham.

Columbia then picked up another title on Friday in the Sprints as freshman Dara Gray won the 100 meters in a 21st-best NAIA time of 11.92 seconds while J. Graham finished third in 12.14 seconds. Also placing in the top six for the Koalas in the 100 was F. Eugene as she crossed in 12.5 seconds while K. Marks also finished 11th in 12.67 seconds for another good result. The trio of ladies combined for 19 team points.

Then, in the 4x800 relay on Friday, the Koalas finished in 4th place out of 11 with a season-best time of 9:58 to post the 32nd-best NAIA time. The 4x8 team featured freshman Annsley Howle, senior Juliana Gonzalez, sophomore Avarose Buccino, and freshman Alissa McCann. Gonzalez ran the fastest leg of the four in 2:26.

In the Long Jump on Friday, the Lady Koalas placed three of their athletes in the top six led by sophomore Jayla Graham's runner-up finish with a personal-best mark of 5.63 meters (18.5 ft) while junior Makayla Blango was right behind her at 5.4 meters for her season-best jump. Freshman Chenoa Haygood also finished 6th with a season-best mark of 5.1 meters.

Also competing for the women on Thursday was freshman Aja Rushing in the Heptathlon. She had totaled 1,832 points on day one after tying for 4th in the 100 meter Hurdles in 19.5 seconds, 4th in the 200 meters in 28.9 seconds, 3rd in the High Jump at a mark of 1.44 meters (4.8 ft), and finally 5th in the Shot Put on Thursday with a throw of 7.6 meters (personal-best, nearly 25 ft).

She then came back Friday to place 3rd in the Long Jump at 4.7 meters (15.5 ft) before finishing 6th of 7 in the Javelin with a mark of 19.2 meters for her personal-best (63 ft). In the final event of the heptathlon, Rushing came out strong in her best event, the 800 meters, to finish in first place with a time of 2:36 to win by 7 seconds and earn 618 heptathlon points. Rushing went on to finish in 4th place in the Heptathlon standings with 3,206 points, just 150 points behind third and 186 back of second place.

In the Shot Put on Friday, the Koalas were led by junior Qu'Sondra Wideman who placed fifth with a personal-best mark of 11.55 meters (37.5 ft) and 4 team points. Fellow junior Azia Holmes also finished 9th of 19 in the SP with a mark of 10.7 meters. Then, in the Javelin, Holmes led the Koalas placing 10th with a mark of 27.5 meters (90 ft).

The Koala men and women will began the field events at 10 am on Saturday.