Salem Track & Field closed out a successful season in the USA South Conference Championships. 

Ashlynn Owens continued her steady improvement, securing Personal Bests in both the 100m and the 200m. Owens shaved off .02 in the 100m, clocking in at 13.54 and took off nearly a full second for a 27.89 in the 200m. 

Triana Smallwood snagged a PB as well, beating her last time by 1.23 to secure a 2:45.14. Smallwood also put up a strong score in the 400m, crossing the line at 1:09.22. 

Allyson Freeman put up a strong performance in the 800m, placing 2nd in her heat and 9th overall with a time of 2:41.30. Her time was over half a minute better than her previous PB. 

Sophie Miller made her 10000m debut, clocking in at 53:55.78 after a whopping 25 laps. 

Lauren Ringwood kicked off the field events for the Spirits in the long jump, jumping a new PB of 4.42m. 

The Salem throwers put on another strong showing, with two athletes making finals. Three of the four throwers made their Hammer debut, with Sonya Cherry throwing 19.10m, Skylyr Yearby throwing 15.00m, and Quay Atkinson throwing 14.03m. 

Both Cherry and Atkinson competed in all four throwing events, finaling in Discus and javelin respectively. Cherry finaled with a throw of 25.19m, while Atkinson threw 16.10m (a PB), both athletes placing 9th. Cherry also threw a 7.78m in Shotput and a 15.67m in Javelin. Atkinson secured two more PBs in shot and disc, throwing 7.25m and 22.74m.  Yearby also competed in both shot and disc, throwing 7.55m and 19.55m. Payton Dolin secured a PB by over a meter in Discus with an 18.08m. SHe also had a strong performance in the Javelin, throwing 14.26m. 

The Spirits finished the weekend with their first 4x400m, the team made up of Smallwood, Owens, Ringwood, and Freeman. The squad put up an impressive performance, closely edging out Brevard runners by two seconds to take 6th with a time of 4:34.01. 

Congratulations to the Spirits Track & Field team and Coach Newsome for a successful first season back!