Goule, Barnett Lead Tigers at Armory

CLEMSON, S.C. — Natoya Goule broke the Clemson record in the women’s 800 meters and led the Tigers’ 4×400 relay to a first-place finish to highlight Clemson’s final day of action at the Armory Track Invitational. In addition, Grace Barnett won the women’s mile with an outstanding performance Saturday.

Goule finished sixth as the only collegiate runner competing in Saturday’s invitational section of the 800. Her time of 2:02.78 broke the existing school standard, set by Karen Hartmann in 1992, by nearly two seconds.

About 30 minutes later, Goule anchored the women’s 4×4 relay that held off Duke to win. Olivia James and Nia Fluker pushed the Tigers to the front early, and Malayshia George handed the baton to Goule with a healthy lead. Clemson’s time of 3:36.29 was a season best.

Barnett rolled to an impressive win in the women’s mile. The redshirt freshman ran a time of 4:42, a personal best and No. 3 in Clemson history. Only Tina Krebs, an NCAA champion, and Alyssa Kulik, an outdoor All-American, have run a faster mile in Tiger history.

Myasia Jacobs and Tevin Hester continued their impressive starts in the short sprints. Jacobs won the women’s 60 dash with a time of 7.28, tied for fourth in program history. Hester had a season-best 6.60 and took runner-up honors after a photo finish.

The men’s 4×400 relay took second place Saturday. The group of Cordell Lamb, Michael Cheeks, Justin Johnson and Jorel Bellafonte combined to a time of 3:12.30.

Samantha Elliott ran second in the women’s 60 hurdles final. The Johnson C. Smith postgraduate transfer ran a season-best 8.32 Saturday. Also in the women’s sprints, Sabria Hadley took sixth in the 200 dash. The sophomore posted a time of 24.45 in the final, but ran 24.04 in the prelim.

Cameron Thornton was fourth in the men’s 800 meters in a time of 1:51.70, winning his section.

In the throws, sophomore James Plummer had another personal best. He hit a mark of 59-4 in the weight throw and advanced to the final, placing eighth overall.

The teams return to action next weekend at the Aggie Invitational in College Station, Texas.