Women's Track & Field 1/24/2016 3:13:00 PM Corey Miggins, Sports Information Director

Jackson and Wren Pace CSU Women at John Craft Invite

Junior Zhate Jackson captured her first event title of the season on Saturday as she won the 400-meter dash at the EIU John Craft Invite

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Junior Zhaté Jackson and redshirt senior Alisha Wren (Chicago, Ill./Percy L. Julian) posted big performances to lead the Chicago State women's track and field team here during the John Craft Invite, hosted by Eastern Illinois, Saturday at Lantz Arena.

The Green and White finished third in the team standings by scoring 38 points and finished ahead of in-state foe Southern Illinois.

"This was our third weekend in a row where we faced some very formidable opponents and our team has risen to the challenges. From the 3,000m race to the 60m dash and the field events, there was improvement in our team's performance," CSU head coach Craig Collins said.

Jackson captured her first event title of the season as she posted a time of 59.57 to win the 400-meter dash in addition to her third-place finish in the 200-meter dash at a time of 26.13. Wren took third in the 60-meter dash as she ran a time of 7.80 in the finals after shaving .10 seconds off her time in the preliminaries.

Sophomore Zensha Tennyson (Lithonia, Ga./Shiloh) claimed seventh place in the 60m after crossing the finish line with a time of 7.96.

Sophomore Asia Johnson (Gurthrie, Okla./Gurthrie) recorded a time of 8.98 in the 60-meter hurdles to earn third place followed by senior Jessica McCaskill (Belleville, Ill./Belleville East) in fourth place with a time of 9.05. In the shot put, sophomore Arieta Vaimaona (Lauli'i, American Samoa/Faga'itua) posted a season-best toss of 37-09.25 (11.54 meters) to place fifth.

"I'm proud to see that our thrower Arieta (Vaimaona) threw for a season's best in the shot put and Alisha (Wren) continues to lower her personal-best mark in the short sprints," added Collins. "The dynamic hurdles duo of Johnson and McCaskill provided a great 2-3 punch for us today. I can't wait to see how well we continue as the season continues."

The Cougars will have split squads competing on the weekend of Feb. 5-6. One squad will travel to Notre Dame, Ind., to compete in the annual Meyo Classic on Feb. 5-6, while another will compete in the Windy City Rumble on Feb. 6.

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