HOMEWOOD, Ala. --- Freshman Ryleigh Simmons and graduate student Lesley Boyd were named Southern Conference Champions on the final day of the conference outdoor track and field championships hosted by Samford.
 
Simmons won the 100 meter dash in a time of 12.05, beating out Samford's Amiel Dabney at the line. She is Chattanooga first-ever SoCon 100 meter champion. Simmons was also named to the SoCon All-Freshman team for both the 100 and 200 meter races.
 
Boyd, the 2023 outdoor 10,000 meter champion, added the 5000 meter title to her trophy case. She and Furman's Carly Wilkes traded the lead toward the end, but Boyd was able to outlast the junior, finishing in a time of 16:40.00. She placed fifth in the 1500 meter with a time of 4:36.00.
 
Maddie Wheatcroft placed third in the 5000 meter with a time of 17:12.20, earning her first all-conference selection. She was just out of all-conference contention, placing fourth in the 1500 meter run. She chased down Furman's Nicole Matysik down the stretch, but came up short at 4:31.31, one-tenth of a second out of all-conference contention.
 
Also just finishing out of contention was junior Stella Henry in the triple jump. In her second jump of the qualifying round, she recorded a personal best at 11.98 that put her in third headed into the finals. However, she would lose out on her spot in the final round.
 
Along with Simmons, Norah Haney was named to the All-Freshman Team in the Pentathlon and Adelaide McKeown earned it in the 400 meter Hurdles.
 
Haney finished ninth in the multi-event. She did find her stride, however, in the javelin portion of the heptathlon. She threw 30.30 meters, just shy of 100 feet, in her first time throwing the spear.
 
McKeown just missed her personal record in the 400 meter Hurdles, running at 1:15.07.
 
The Chattanooga women finished sixth overall with 51 points. Samford claimed the overall team title for the women followed Western Carolina, Wofford, ETSU and Furman in fifth.
 
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Heptathlon
9	Norah Haney	3707 points
4x100 meter
7	Chattanooga	50.12	2 pts
1500 meter
4	Maddie Wheatcroft	4:31.31	5 pts
5	Lesley Boyd	4:36.00	4 pts
10	Leah Boyd	4:38.44
12	Lexi Foley	4:43.04
13	Audrey Wade	5:07.03
100 meter
1	Ryleigh Simmons	12.05	10 pts
Triple Jump
4	Stella Henry	11.98 meters [39'30"]	5 pts
400 meter Hurdles
7	Sarah Unterholzner	1:03.65	2 pts
15	Adelaide McKeown	1:115.07
200 meters
7	Ryleigh Simmons	25.30	2 pts
5000 meter
1	Lesley Boyd	16:40.00	10 pts
3	Maddie Wheatcroft	17:12.20	6 pts
15	Andrea Ellis	17:55.19
16	Leah Boyd	18:00.99
4x400 meter Relay
9	Chattanooga	4:09.88