March 3, 2008

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - The 2008 Southwestern Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships concluded today with conference institutions competing in the finals in the field events, sprints, distance runs and a relay. In the end the women of Jackson State brought home the title of conference champion.

The women's weight throw was won by Jackson State's Leadrianna White, with a toss of 15.91 meters, besting Kristin Hart of Alabama State by nearly a meter (14.90 meters).

In the 60-meter dash, Courtney Prentiss finished third with a time of 7.65 sec. In the women's 400-meter dash, all eight runners bested the previous conference record set by Joy McDonald in 2004. In the end, Tayari Clay of Jackson State was second with a mark of 56.44 sec. Toniece Williams finished second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.88 seconds.

Clay finished second in the 200-m dash with time of 24.95 seconds. The final event of the day was the 4-by-400 meter relay. Jackson State finished first, as the Lady Tigers set a new conference mark with a time of 3:49.78. The old mark was set by Grambling State in 2005 with a time of 3:55.21.

In the women's team standings, Jackson State finished first with a total of 127 points; Alabama State was second with 101 points while Grambling State finished third with 99 points. Pauline Banks of Jackson State was named Women's Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year.