University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

Five Top-Ten Finishes Concludes Tennessee Invite for Bulldogs
04.05.2025 | Track and Field
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The UNC Asheville Track and Field team closed out the Tennessee Invite on Saturday, April 5, with five top-ten finishes and two new additions to the record books to highlight the final day of competition.Â
RECORD BOOK ADJUSTMENTS AND TOP-TEN FINISHES
Jaelyn Arnold earned the highest finish for Asheville on the day, securing sixth place in the women's shot put with a personal best of 13.13 meters, entering as Asheville's new No. 2 in program history. Arnold improved her personal best by nearly a meter (12.14). Arnold inches closer to the top mark of 14.06m set by Raina Jackson in 2023.Â
Arnold also secured 14th place in the women's hammer throw with a distance of 39.82 meters, just 2.18 meters short of her personal best and No. 5 spot on the All-Time list.Â
Shemarr Session grabbed a top-10 finish, finishing eighth at 14.75 in a heavily contested 110m hurdles final. Session's preliminary time of 14.55 enters him at No. 4 in program history, an impressive .63 improvement from the 49er Classic.Â
Nikole Baikova opened her outdoor season by placing seventh in the women's 800m at 2:15.23. Baikova was joined by Isabel Richardson (11th, 2:18.42, SB) and Maddie Hamuka (36th, 2:29.24).Â
Both sections of the 4x100m relay teams dipped into the top 10, with the women taking seventh in 48.16 and the men taking eighth in 41.66, only .08 away from tying the No. 5 time of 41.58. The men's team featured Joseph Oliver, Christopher Owens, Shemarr Session and Nkosi Jeju. The women's team included Chaniya Owens, Francesca Cergol, Alexis Vaughan and Kamryn Peeples.Â
FIELD
Madison Hannah joined Arnold in the shot put, placing 16th with a season's best of 10.83 meters.Â
Gabe Matthews took 15th in the men's high jump with a personal best of 1.88 meters.Â
Chaniya Owens placed 14th in the women's triple jump with a distance of 11.11 meters. Owens holds the No. 4 spot on the All-Time list at 11.88 meters. On the men's side, Gabe Matthews placed 13th with 13.70 meters. Matthews has the No. 3 spot with 13.85 meters set in the 2024 season.Â
In the men's hammer throw, Chad Lasher threw 38.50 meters to place 17th, improving his throw at the 49er Classic by 2.83 meters. Lasher also secured 17th place in the men's shot put with 13.26 meters.Â
TRACK
Over the 110m hurdles, Adam Graham and Noah Henthorn joined Session, with Graham locking 23rd place (16.17) and Henthorn placing 27th (19.32). On the women's side, Lee Kania represented Asheville with an 18th-place finish and personal best of 16.17, more than a second quicker than her performance of 17.19 at the 49er Classic.Â
Chaniya Owens led for Asheville in the women's 100m, placing 27th in 12.09. Alexis Vaughan followed in 36th with a season's best of 12.57, and Zoey Marrero finished in 41st with a season's best of 12.82.Â
In the 400m men's section, Christopher Owens placed 18th with 49.43, followed by Adam Graham in 37th with 51.33. Graham also placed 13th in the men's 400m hurdles with a personal best of 56.39.Â
Murielle Jeanite placed 22nd in the women's section with 1:01.40.Â
The men's section of the 800m was led for Asheville by Jacoby Ennis in 26th with a season's best of 1:57.12, followed by Noah Jones in 43rd (2:01.16) and Preston Core (49th, 2:06.70).Â
RELAYS
The men's 4x400m (Graham, Owens, Ennis, Core) placed 12th in 3:23.98, and the women's 4x400m (Cergol, Baikova, Richardson, Jeanite) took 13th with a season's best of 4:05.82.Â
For full results from the Tennessee Invitational, click HERE.Â
The UNC Asheville track and field team will next compete at home for the first time this season in the Asheville Bulldog Invite on April 11-12.Â
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