CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Anderson University junior Jill Baxter is currently in 13th place following the opening four events of the heptathlon on Thursday at the 49er Classic, hosted by Charlotte at the Irwin Belk Track & Field facility.
The Classic began on Thursday morning, with Baxter recording a height of 1.55 meters in the high jump to earn third place - her highest finish of the day. She finished ninth in the shot put with a distance of 8.57 meters and placed 14th in the 200 meter in a time of 29.50. Her time of 18.97 seconds in the first event of the day - the 100 meter hurdles - was good for 16th and she sits 97 points away from 12th place overall with 2025 total points.
The Denver, N.C. native finished 11th at the Classic a year ago.
Charlotte's Evelyn Putman leads the way with 2716 points. Western Carolina's Holly Gaines is sitting in second place with 2621 total points followed closely by Edinboro's Brianne Dietrich with 2618 points.
Charleston Southern's Kayla Gardner took the top spot in the
100m hurdles with a 14.94 performance. Putman took second the event
with a time of 15.02. Edinboro's Dietrich rounded out the top three
with a 15.50 performance.
West Virginia Wesleyan's Lauren Cvechko and East Stroudsburg's
Theresa Horn tied for the top spot in the second event with
clearing 1.58m (5' 2.25) in the high jump. Baxter rounded out the
top three with a 1.55m (5' 1) jump.
Cvechko took the top spot in the women's shot put with a mark of 10.55m (34' 7.5). Queens' Mystique Ro finished in second with a toss of 9.55m (31' 4). Dietrich tied for third along with WCU's Gaines, Charlotte's Putman and ESU's Horn with marks of 9.33m (30' 7.5).
WCU's Gaines took the top time in the final event of the day in the women's heptathlon running the 200m in 25.68. Charlotte's Putman took second with a time of 26.19 followed by WCU's Stephanie Burris with a time of 26.23.
The final three events of the women's heptathlon will start Friday at 10 a.m. with the long jump event, while the field events for the team are slated to start at 11 a.m. The running events will begin at 1 p.m. and the three-day event will conclude Saturday afternoon.
