Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
John Thomas Terrier Classic
Jones Sets 1-Mile Academy Record in Busy Weekend for Women's Track & Field
January 30, 2023 | Women's Track and Field
BOSTON , MA – The Army West Point women's track & field squad split up this past weekend, sending athletes to both the John Thomas Terrier Classic hosted by Boston University, along with the Penn State National Open down in University Park, Pa.
Georgia Jones stole the headlines for the Black Knights, setting a new academy record in the 1-mile run up at the Terrier Classic. Jones' time of 4:45.99 broke the previous mark of 4:46.38 and landed her a 17-place finish in the event. Joanna Halfhill was the next Black Knight to cross the finish-line, registered a time of 4:57.30 for a 37th-place finish.
Also competing in Boston, Shayla Bonzelet logged a top-ten finish for Army, placing ninth in the 500m with a time of 1:19.06. Melissa Jachim tabbed a new personal best in the 1000m, recording a time of 2:54.67,
Down at Penn State, Hannah Andrews placed third in the 600m (1:36.51) to lead the Black Knights. Samantha Sheppard-Moore had a strong showing on pole vault, placing fifth through a 3.66m finish. Kayley Ragazzini continued her strong season with a 14.47m shot put for a top-ten finish while Zoe Whaley's 1.65m high jump ranked seventh in the event.
Army Top Finishers
BU Terrier Classic (Full Results)
1-Mile: Georgia Jones (4:45.99) - 17th
500m: Shayla Bonzelet (1:19.06) - 9th
800m: Quinn Collins (2:18.27) - 38th
1000m: Melissa Jachim (2:54.67) - 19th
3000m: Abigail McIlvain (10:14.79) - 73rd
Penn State National Open (Full Results)
400m: Emma Taylor (57.57) - 11th
600m: Hannah Andrews (1:36.51) - 3rd
High Jump: Zoe Whaley (1.65m) - 7th
Pole Vault: Samantha Sheppard-Moore (3.66m) - 5th
Long Jump: Lindsey Smith (5.39m) - 13th
Shot Put: Kayley Ragazzini (14.47m) - 7th
Coach's Corner
The final day of our weekend was all about the women. We had a skeleton crew of events compete at Penn State and saw some personal bests from that meet. The majority of our women's action on the day was at the Terrier Classic in Boston. The Boston University meet had women's only events on Saturday and we put quite a few of our middle distance and distance women out on the track in a variety of events. The competition at the BU meet is extraordinary on the oval so we were challenged in almost every race that we ran. I like to put our people into uncomfortable situations so that they learn how to adapt to real racing, and there was a lot of that today. The vast majority of our women achieved personal bests as a result of the higher level of competition. Melissa Jachim improved her 1000 meter personal best by almost 4 seconds today in a race that she tried to win. She has only run two races this indoor season and has shown a good competitive spirit in both of them. She was somewhat inconsistent in the fall cross country season but since her strong performance at the regional meet in November, she has been a completely different athlete. She is confident and fearless. We saw that today in a race that was competitive from the start. She finished 3rd in her heat and her time of 2:54.67 moved her to number 10 all-time on the Army top 10 list. Our best performance of the day came from Georgia Jones. It was not a surprise to see Georgia win a race and it was not unexpected that she ran 4:45.99 and set a new school record in the process. Georgia has shown the ability to run fast since she arrived at West Point and once again she set a record in a race that she won. Abigail Halbrook set the previous best mark of 4:46.38 in 2019 and Georgia has had her sights set on that mark for quite some time. She had to fight through a lot of traffic in order to win the race so I was happy for her that she was also able to run fast in the process. We have our championship meets in front of us now and we are looking good as we head into the Star meet next weekend." - Director of Track & Field Mike Smith
Up Next
Army will return home to take on Navy in the indoor Star Meet on Feb. 4 at 11:00 a.m. from Gillis Field House.
Players Mentioned
