Thompson & Kouami Break School Records in Season Debut as Firebirds

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.- The University of the District of Columbia's women's indoor track and field team had a strong showing at the Seahawk Shootout, to open their season.

Dayna Thompson ran a time of 40.23s to place seventh out of a field of 73 other runners. Thompson's time was the fastest division II time of the meet and broke the school record of 41.33s, which was set by head coach Simone Grant back in 2015. She then went on to split a team fast 59.55s on the 4x400m relay team. 

Emmanuela Katou Kouami broke the Weight throw record which was set by teammate Kendra Williams. She threw a mark of 14.42m to placed eighth out of a field of 35 other throwers. 

UDC had many other strong performances as well;

Kayleigh Shelton ran a time of 9.32s in the 60m hurdles in her debut as a Firebird, which was the fastest Division II time of the meet. 

Zoe Shaw jumped 1.50m in the high jump which was the best DII mark of the meet.

Kayla Cooper ran a time of 42.28s in the 300m , which was the fourth fastest DII time of the meet. 

Ayesha Jarrett placed 14th out of a field of 35 in the 600m with a time of 1:42.72.

Janel Baxter placed 13th out of a field of 35 with a mark of 4.99m in the long jump.

UDC finished the meet running two 4x400m teams. The quartet of Baxter, Jarrett, Chacoia Wilkes and Tukey Francis fielded the A team which placed 7th out of a field of 16.

Next Up, UDC will compete in the HBCU Showcase, on January 14th at the Armory in N.Y.