Results | Sunday Heat Sheets
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The WKU women and South Alabama men continue to lead the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Bobcat Stadium in San Marcos, Texas.
WKU has 81 total points heading into Sunday’s finale and USA has 55 points on the men’s side. UT Arlington is second on the men’s side with 50 points and Arkansas State, third, with 34 points.
USA is second, 17.5 points behind WKU on the women’s side with UL Lafayette in third with 46 points.
Saturday’s weather turned out to be spectacular with not a cloud in the sky as compared to Friday’s weather issues.
The events got underway promptly at 10 a.m. with the men’s and women’s multi-events
Noelle Jones of USA claimed the heptathlon title with 5,381 points which is a new SBC Championship and Texas State complex record. Teammate Leah Hixon was second with 5,295 points and Texas State's Tina Valenzuela was third with 5,142 points.
A-State’s Ethan Turpen won his second consecutive decathlon title with a new SBC Championship record of 7,292 points. USA's Garrett Schumacher placed second with 7,086 points and UL Lafayette's Wesmoreland Gonzales was third with 6,996 points.
Tia Mitchell of the Cajuns took top honors in the women's long jump with a leap of 6.27m (20'7"). Mitchell actually tied A-State's Sharika Nelvis but had a second better jump by just one centimeter.
WKU's Jessica Ramsey claimed her second event title of the Championships as she took top honors in the women's shot put with her second SBC Championship record. Ramsey tossed the shot 16.99m (55'9") besting the field by over six feet. Texas State's Talore Kelly finished second (15.13m/49'7.75") and WKU's Lexia Robinson was third (14.67m/48'1.75").
Lindsey Harmon of UL Lafayette claimed the women's high jump title clearing the bar at 1.76m (5'9.25"), winning the event by two feet over Texas State's Daniela Candelaria and Sandra Akachukwu. The two both cleared 1.71m (5'7.25") but Candelaria earned runner-up honors based on jumps.
UL Lafayette's Albert Fournette broke his own SBC Championship record with a toss of 20.09m (65'11"). Fournette's toss moved him into second place on the NCAA East Qualifying list.
Texas State's Darian Brown was also over 60-feet in the shot as he finished second, heaving the shot 18.44m (60'6"). Troy's Zach Douglas was third (17.70m/58'1").
A-State freshman Roelf Pienaar claimed the men's long jump title with a leap of 7.97m (26'1.75"). UL Monroe's Corey Wesley finished second with a leap of 7.88m (25.10.25"). Devin Davis of UL-L was third.
Georgia State's Katharine Showalter won the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:36.54. Katelyn Hayward of UTA was second (10:36.84) and Showalter's teammate was third (10:38.04).
The final event of the night saw UTA’s Emil Blomberg chase down USA’s Patrick Rohr in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase to claim the individual title for the Mavericks. Blomberg crossed the line in 9:22.81 and Rohr finished in 9:23.07. WKU’s Peter Agaba was third.
In addition to the event finals on Saturday several student-athletes had fast qualifying times in their preliminaries on Saturday.
A-State’s Nelvis had the fastest qualifier in the women’s 100-meter hurdles at 13.00 seconds, which set a new Championship and Complex record in the process. Nelvis is the defending champion in the event.
UTA's Renan Palma claimed heat No. 2 in the men’s 110-meter hurdles with the fastest qualifying time of 14.05 seconds. Troy's Thaddeus Curtis won heat No. 1 (14.18) and had the second fastest qualifying time.
Gelela Cooley of WKU had the fastest women's 400 meter qualifying time as she won heat No. 2 in 54.07 seconds. DeAndrea Smith of UT Arlington took top honors in heat No. 1 and Tatiana Colbert claimed heat No. 3 for Georgia State.
WKU's Elvyonn Bailey was the fastest qualifier in the men's 400 meters (45.52).
ASU's Nelvis, competing in her third event of the day - the 100 meters - crossed the line in 11.23 seconds as she won her heat in the event. The next three times were all freshmen qualifiers; Carrol Hardy and Sandra Akachukwu of WKU and Marika Brown of Texas State.
UTA's Clayton Vaughn was the fastest qualifier in the men's 100 meters as he crossed the line in 10.08 seconds. Justin Whitfield of A-State and Quentin Butler of UTA were the winners of the other two heats.
Texas State’s Briana Sharp won her heat in the women’s 800 meters followed by UTA’s duo of Ashly Wright and Tamerah Gorham who won their respective heats and advanced to Sunday’s final.
The men’s 800 saw WKU’s Christopher Chamness cross the line with the fastest qualifier at 1:53.32. UL-L’s Matt Rice and USA’s Robert Mann each had the top time in the other two heats in the prelims.
Cajun freshman Joya Tardieff won her heat in the women’s 400-meter hurdles as she advanced to the final with a time of 1:01.47. Breanna Walker of UALR won heat No. 2 with a time of 1:01.93.
Texas State’s duo James Hilliard and Larron Black won their respective heats in the men’s 400-meter hurdles.
The final qualifying events, the women’s 200 meters, saw freshmen Hardy of WKU and Brown of Texas State win their respective heats, along with A-State’s Nelvis, who won her heat in her fourth event of the day.
On the men’s side, WKU’s Bailey and Ventavius Sears advanced after winning their heats with respective times of 20.64 and 20.82. UTA’s Vaughn had the third-fastest qualifier as he crossed the line in 20.94 and Troy’s Jordan Landburg won the fourth and final heat with a time of 20.95.
Sunday’s championship rounds begin at 10 a.m. CT with the men’s discus followed by a trio of events at noon in the men’s pole vault, women’s triple jump and the women’s discus.
The running event finals begin at 5 p.m. CT and continue until the 4x400-meter relays scheduled for 8:35 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. CT.