BLACKSBURG, VA – Freshman sensation Marthaline Cooper broke her own school record in capturing the weight throw event during the Virginia Tech Challenge.

Cooper 's new school record now stands at 18.54 meters (60-ft-10 in.), bettering her previous record by eight centimeters which she set at the Hilton Garden Invitational three weeks ago. The record-setting throw came on the first throw of the night, as no one else in the field was able to come close to the mark. The victory was her third of the season.

Assistant coach Brett Best, who handles the throws athletes, said the secret behind her performance is "Marthaline experimented a new technique this weekend for the first time. Instead of her usual three turns before launching the weight, she did four and was able to fire off many great throws along with her new record.."

In the same event, Shaniqua Hunter finished sixth with a distance of 16.80m (55-01.50).

Jakeb Elliott also had a great outing in the men's weight throw competition. The senior from Williamstown, WV placed sixth with a new personal best performance of 17.04m (55-11.00), only l0 cm away from the school record set by Devin Gist in 2011.

In the men's shot put, Asa Walvoort, Mike Hajduk and Kevin Mackey placed seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.

The women's distance medley relay team, comprised of Sarah Devaux, Ashley Sitton, Lisa Nichols and Shayna Jenkins finished second behind Clemson with a time of 12:42.53.

Several other Eagles set new personal bests over the weekend. Shalace Rose ran a new indoor best in the 400 meter dash with a time of 57.78 seconds, while Alesha Love ran 58.27 seconds in the same event. DeVaux also set a new indoor lifetime best in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:20.54.

The Winthrop men and women will return to Virginia Tech next weekend for the Big South Conference Indoor Championships.