BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Sophomore Nia Elmore (Hinesville, Ga.) rewrote the record books for a second consecutive meet as she lead Clayton State women's track & field in the 2018 opener at the Emory CrossPlex Invitational on Sunday, January 20. The meet was held at the Birmingham Crossplex, the premier indoor facility in the Southeast and site of previous NCAA Division II National Championships.
 
Already having broken a pair of records in the season opener in December, Elmore surpassed her own mark in the 60-meters not once but twice. Competing in the preliminaries she just eclipsed her record of 7.96 with a time of 7.95 to earn a spot in the finals. In the latter, she would out do herself once again, this time with a sterling time of 7.91 to place ninth in the finals and 9-of-58 overall.
 
She wasn't done, either. Wrapping up her day in the 200-meters she did so in style as she repeated her twin performance from the BSC Panther Indoor Icebreaker when she reset a more than decade old mark in that event. This day she posted a time of 25.94, besting her time from that meet by 0.02, to earn the sixth program record of her young career.
 
Joining her in the assault on the record books was junior Destiny Johnson (New Iberia, La.) as she made her mark in the high jump. Competing in her first meet of the season, last year's All-Peach Belt Conference Outdoor selection equaled the program record of Keisha Etienne of 1.52-meters. Etienne set that mark more than 10 years ago in 2007.
 
That performance earned her a tie for fifth place out of 23 competitors while her distance of 4.96-meters in the long jump was good for 13-of-42. In that same event sophomore Shockera Betty (Tallahassee, Fla.)
placed 11^th with a mark of 4.98-meters and fellow sophomore Bianca Kamara (Lilburn, Ga.) notched a personal best of 4.79-meters to finish in 17^th.
 
Freshman Abigail Campbell (McDonough, Ga.) continued the strong start to her career as she again nearly broke the program record in the shot put. After registering a mark of 12.19-meters in her collegiate debut in December she topped that with a distance of 12.23-meters, coming in just 0.02 shy of equaling the record set by Brianna Heilsnis in 2014. Campbell finished 8-of-49 with that distance.
 
Junior Carla Catala Martin (Barcelona, Spain) rounded out the top individual efforts with an 11-of-49 finish in the 3,000-meters (10:57.51). That time represents a new personal best, surpassing her time of 11:01.31 set at the season opening meet last month.
 
"Nia had another strong showing in the 60-meter dash, breaking her school record twice in the process!," said head coach Mike Mead. "Overall as a team, we had a solid team effort considering the weather issues we've dealt with the past two weeks."
 
The Lakers are back in action on Saturday, February 3 following a two week hiatus. That day they will travel to Sewanee, Tennessee for the Tiger Indoor Invitational hosted by Sewanee.
 
NOTES
In addition to breaking the 60- and 200-meter records initially on December 1, Elmore has also been part of a pair of outdoor record-setting 4x100-meter relay teams … the first came on March 25, 2017 with a time of 49.33 at the Emory Classic with the most recent being a mark of 48.73 at the Peach Belt Conference Championships on April 22 that same year … as a team, Clayton State finished 19-of-23 at the meet.
 
CLAYTON STATE WOMEN'S COMPETITORS (11)
Tyra Allen – 60-meters (52-of-58, 8.76)
Shockera Betty – Long Jump (11-of-42, 4.98m), Triple Jump (23-of-28, 9.70m), 200-meters (39-of-58, 27.49), 4x400-meters-B (14-of-16, 4:35.66)
Ariel Boyd-Ghani – 800-meters (32-of-51, 2:32.79), 4x400-meters-B (14-of-16, 4:35.66)
Abigail Campbell – Shot Put (8-of-49, 12.23m)
Carla Catala Martin – 3,000-meters (11-of-49, 10:57.51), 4x400-meters-B (14-of-16, 4:35.66)
Nia Elmore – 60-meters (9-of-16, 7.91-Finals*, 10-of-58, 7.95-Prelim*), 200-meters (14-of-58, 25.94)*, 4x400-meters-A (7-of-16, 4:18.41)
Chaviya Jackson – 400-meters (29-of-50, 1:03.34), 4x400-meters-A (7-of-16, 4:18.41)
Destiny Johnson – High Jump (T5-of-23, 1.52m)**, Long Jump (13-of-42, 4.96m), Triple Jump (19-of-28, 10.01m), 4x400-meters-A (7-of-16, 4:18.41)
Bianca Kamara – Long Jump (17-of-42, 4.79m), 400-meters (34-of-50, 1:04.59), 4x400-meters-A (7-of-16, 4:18.41)
Lynnet Kosgei – 3,000-meters (33-of-49, 12:03.50)
Jasmine Radford – 200-meters (17-of-58, 26.68), 4x400-meters-B (14-of-16, 4:35.66)
*Program Record
**Equaled Program Record