Dillard Women’s Track & Field Hold their own at the Strawberry Relays

HAMMOND, LA — The Dillard University women's track & field team delivered a competitive showing at Southeastern Louisiana, highlighted by a NAIA qualifying performance in the 4x100-meter relay and multiple top finishes across events.

The Lady Bleu Devils were led by a strong showing in the 400 meters, where T-anna Dawkins placed third overall with a time of 57.48s. Teammate Laila Johnson followed with a fourth-place finish (58.35), while Lazariah Garner added a fifth-place finish (58.87) to give Dillard three athletes in the top five.

In distance action, Nhaydia Flowers recorded a third-place finish in the 3000-meter steeplechase (14:44.25), earning key team points. She also paced the team in the 1500 meters, finishing 13th (5:45.46), followed by Caitlyn Gordon (14th, 5:47.83) and Kennedy Timmons (15th, 5:58.62). Freshman Karlise Davison added a solid performance in the 800 meters, placing ninth overall (2:23.70).

On the sprint side, the 4x100-meter relay team of Tori Burton, Mackenzie Cannon, Tatiana Clay, and Laila Johnson delivered one of the top performances of the meet, placing second overall with a time of 46.74s, which meets the NAIA "B" standard.

In the field events, Shaloni Walker led Dillard in the long jump with a mark of 5.23m (17'2"), while Tatiana Clay recorded 4.94m (16'2.5").

The throwing group contributed across multiple events, led by Darnee Williams, who scored in the shot put (9th, 10.09m) and javelin (9th, 24.84m). Lauren Hall added points in the hammer throw (8th, 27.95m) and competed in both the shot put and discus, while Trinity Marshall added depth in the hammer and javelin. 

-Bleu Devils-