Day 1 Results
JONESBORO, Ark. – The Arkansas State women and the WKU men lead the respective team races after day one of competition at the 2013 Sun Belt Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships.

The Red Wolves lead the women’s competition with 40 points. Middle Tennessee trails ASU by only 3.5 points with North Texas only six behind the host Red Wolves.

On the men’s side, WKU picked up 46 points on day one thanks to a one-two-three finish in the men’s high jump. North Texas sits in second with 40 points and Louisiana-Lafayette is third with 39 points.

Sunday’s action got underway in a record setting fashion as Middle Tennessee senior Ann Dudley came out and defended her 2012 and 2011 indoor high jump titles. The senior won her third consecutive SBC indoor track & field high jump title with a clearance of 1.82m (5'11.5"), breaking the previous SBC Championship and season record.

NT sophomore Shahaf Bareni took second place honors with a clearance of 1.77m (5'9.75") and Bareni's teammate, Chelsea Hermes, took third place.

In the women's shot put WKU's Jessica Ramsey claimed first-place honors with a toss of 15.24m (50') to earn 10 points for the Lady Toppers. Julia Agawu took home second-place for championship host ASU. FIU's Raqurra Ishmar was third.

The Mean Green’s Terrence Williams claimed the men's long jump title in the first final of day one for the men. His leap of 7.24m (23'9") was just beyond Blue Raider Cordairo Golden’s jump of 7.22 (23'8.25"). Williams won the event on his sixth and final attempt.

FIU's Aubrey Smith took third place in the men's long jump.

The final field event of the morning was the men's pole vault which was won by South Alabama's Nick Farrell. The junior cleared the bar at 5.00m (16'4.75") to take home first-place honors and earn First Team All-SBC honors in the process. Louisiana-Lafayette's Michael Vani and John Ellis of Arkansas State each cleared 4.85m (15'11"), however, Vani was awarded second as he had fewer misses at a previous attempt.

The men's heptathlon saw ULL's Sander Maes hold the day one lead with 2949 points, as he leads Ethan Turpen of ASU by only 29 points. William Oliver, also of ASU, sits in third place with 2898 points. Maes' day saw him pick up 792 points in the 55m dash (6.75), 778 points in the long jump (22'5.75"), 665 points in the shot put (42'6.25") and 714 points in the high jump (6'2.75").

ASU's Sharika Nelvis took home first-place honors in the women's long jump, leaping out to a new SBC Championship record of 6.32m (20'9") which is tied tenth in the NCAA this season. Sharika Smith of WKU finished second and Briana Aiken of South Alabama finished third.

ULL's Myles Melancon, a ninth-place finisher at the 2012 indoor championships, claimed the 2013 title with a toss of 17.12m (56'2"). Melancon bested teammate, and 2012 champion, Albert Fournette who took second this year with a throw of 17.00m (55'9.25"). Aaron Sirles of North Texas took home third-place honors with a toss of 16.92m (55'6.25").

The first running final of the night saw North Texas' Matt Russ claim the 3,000 meter title. The junior ran 8:28.96 to take the top honor and earn All-SBC First Team accolades. Russ, earlier in the evening, qualified for the 800 meters.

WKU's David Mokone was second with teammate Joseph Chebet third.

In the women's 3,000 meters, Josephine Adams of North Texas won the title after finishing in ninth-place a year ago. Adams ran 9:48.28 which was just two seconds off of the Convocation Center record. Kristina Aubert of ASU was second (9:53.55) and the Blue Raiders Lucy Kapkiai was third. Kapkiai was the runner-up in this event in 2012.

The final field event of day one was the men’s high jump that saw three WKU athletes tie for the best clearance. Derrick Hill took home top honors as he cleared 2.10m (6’10.75”) with a fewer number of misses as he cleared the bar on his first attempt. Freshman Donovan Halsel placed second and Cyrus Johnson placed third.

The 3,000 meter races were the final events of the evening. On the men’s side, Louisiana-Monroe took home first-place honors as the foursome made up of two freshman and two seniors out-raced North Texas down the stretch to take the title. Hillary Kirwa, Dimitri Hampton, Dusan Makevic and Daniel Mutai ran 10:16.12, which is the fastest time in the SBC this year.

On the women’s side, the Blue Raiders set a new Convocation Center record with a time of 12:06.05. The foursome of Stephanie Smith, Amber Jackson, Rachel Islam and Autumn Gipson ran their best time of the season en route to first-place honors. Finishing second was the Mean Green in a time of 12:09.08 with the Red Wolves crossing the line in 12:09.47.

Day two of the 2013 Sun Belt Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships is set to begin at 9:00 a.m. CT with the women's triple jump, the women's weight throw and the women's 55-meter pentathlon hurdles.

Please stay tuned to www.SunBeltSports.org for updates and alerts regarding all of tomorrow's action.

Women’s Team Scores
1. Arkansas State - 40
2. Middle Tennessee - 36.5
3. North Texas - 34
4. WKU - 26
5. South Alabama - 19.5
6. FIU - 19
7. Georgia State - 10
8. Louisiana-Lafayette - 8
9. Florida Atlantic - 1
9. Troy - 1

Men’s Team Scores
1. WKU - 46
2. North Texas - 40
3. Louisiana-Lafayette - 39
4. Arkansas State - 27
5. South Alabama - 23
6. Louisiana-Monroe - 22
7. Middle Tennessee - 17
8. FIU - 11
9. UALR - 9