GULF SHORES, Ala. – Southern Wesleyan track and field won eight events, set seven conference records and broke 16 school records and had 25 medalists in an eventful weekend at their first-ever conference meet.

Amber King took first in the women's long jump with a mark of 5.39 meters. Jess Maggio finished 6th in the event with a jump of 5.10 meters. Also in the field Olivia Bush won the javelin with a throw of 35.53 meters, which is also a personal best.

The men also won two events on Friday with Kiaser Pickney winning the discus with a throw of 42.21 meters. Chevy Shockley won the pole vault with a mark of 3.85 meters. Shockley also scored in the javelin with a 7th place finish, throwing a personal best 33.17 meters.

Pickney picked up where he left off on Saturday, winning both the shot put and the hammer throw. In the shot he set a new school record and qualified for the NCCAA meet with a throw of 13.25 meters. He also set a school record in the hammer with a mark of 35.47 meters.

His teammates added to the team success in the field as Zack Hubbard and Matt Trotter both scored in the shot put and the hammer. Hubbard took 2nd in the hammer (29.94 meters) and 6th in the shot (11.83 meters). Trotter was 4th in the hammer (26.37 meters) as the Warriors placed three in the top four. He was also 8th in the shot put with a throw of 9.90 meters.

Leeann Gibson also found success on Saturday, winning the shot put with a school record throw of 12.18 meters. She took third in the hammer throw with another school record of 26.53 meters. Gibson took fourth in the women's discus on Friday, throwing 34.18 meters, which is a season best.

Jhante McMillan was the lone winner on the track on Saturday for the Warriors, taking the 400 meter hurdles in 56.57 seconds. He was also 2nd in the 110 hurdles with a school record 15.48 seconds, 3rd in the 100 meter dash (10.79 – school record) and 6th in the 200 meter dash (22.44). Keith Johnson also found success on Saturday, placing 2nd in the 400 meter dash with a time of 49.03 and 5th in the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.19.

Three different women placed second in an individual race on Saturday as the Warriors had seven scorers in individual races. Lavornne Taylor was 2nd in the 400 meter dash (25.32 – school record) while Logan Thiel placed 8th (1:01.51). Olivia Bush was 2nd in the 400 hurdles (1:07.77) and also took 4th in the 100 hurdles (15.63) while teammate Jess Maggio was 2nd (15.03). Maggio also took 6th in the 100 meter dash (12.45 – school record).

Those four women – Maggio, Thiel, Taylor and Bush – placed 2nd in the 4x400 meter relay with a school record time of 4:01.15 and took 3rd in the 4x100 meter relay with another school record of 48.97.
In the women's pole vault Kayla Eison claimed 3rd with a mark of 2.73 meters. Michelle Anaya took 6th in the high jump with a school record of 1.52 meters. Amber King was 7th in the triple jump with a mark of 10.52 meters.

Chevy Shockely was 7th in the men's javelin with a throw of 33.17 meters which is also a school record. Drew Welch nearly topped his best time of the season in the 800 meter race, placing 5th with a time of 2:00.59. Josh Thatcher was 8th in the 1500 meters with a time of 4:16.65.

On the women's side SWU finished third with 107 points, just three points behind Emmanuel despite the Warriors just sending eight competitors on the women's side. Brenau won the conference title for the second straight year with 321.5 points.

The men took fourth with 103 points, again with just eight men competing at the meet. Spring Hill took third with 107 points while William Carey placed second with 163. Emmanuel was the men's champion with 191 points.

The Warriors will head to the NCCAA National meet hosted by Shorter University on Thursday, May 1.