Women in first, men tied for first after Day 1
2/15/2016 8:46:00 PM | Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
After one day at the Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala., the Bearkats find themselves in a favorable position with the women posting a team-leading 50 points while the men are tied with Stephen F. Austin in first at 38 points.
The women lead second-place Abilene Christian, who has 34 points, followed by third place Incarnate Word with 25 points. Southeastern Louisiana is in third on the men's side, but by the slightest margin, with 37.5 points.
“What a fantastic first day,” eighth-year head coach David Self said. “So many peopled stepped up. We've set ourselves up for a great day two. The kids are competing hard and doing what we've asked them to do.”
FINAL RESULTS
Sophomore Avery Zamzow captured the top spot and fellow sophomore Courtney Lord secured third in the pentathlon behind 3,582 points and 3,540 points respectively. Zamzow earned a first-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles (8.93) and Lord took the top spot in the high jump (5 feet, 6 ½ inches).
“It is such a blessing to have my teammate up here,” Zamzow said of being on the awards stand with Lord. “We were both fighting for first place. The multi's started strong and now we're just putting faith in everybody else.”
Senior Ashley Jenkins continued her dominance in the weight throw, breaking the CrossPlex and Southland Conference record with a toss of 70 feet, 9 ¼ inches. The Dallas native, who entered the event No. 3 nationally, bested the second-place competitor by over eight feet.
In the 5,000 meters, senior Ana Moreno and junior Chris Speaks each captured school records. Moreno boasted a time of 17:11.23 in third place while Speaks went 14:28.40 in fifth place. Junior teammate Olivia Olguin also secured a personal best with a time of 17:25.98 in the event.
“I have been working for this since I got here,” Moreno said. “When I saw SFA getting in front of me, I just told myself, 'don't let them get away.' Our coaches have told us just do what we've been doing and that's what I told myself this morning.”
In the men's pole vault, junior Garrett Larson and freshman Ashton Summers found the podium for the Bearkats. Larson secured second with a leap of 16 feet, 9 ½ inches and Summers went third, securing two personal bests including 16 feet, 5 ½ inches.
“I saw two of our girl teammates stand up on the podium earlier and I said, 'that's what I want today,'” Summers said. “A double PR in the pole vault is huge. It doesn't happen. The fact I can do that and walk around with my teammate with a medal around my neck means the world to me.”
In the women's long jump, Paula Smith secured second at 18 feet, 8 ½ inches while in the men's high jump, sophomore Tyler Adams finished one centimeter shy of a school record with a leap of 7 feet, 1 ½ inches to take second.
“It's a blessing to be able to compete at this high level,” Adams said. “I wasn't aiming for second place but I got points for the team. It's the greatest feeling you can ever endure (when everyone is cheering for you). You can't explain it.”
The Bearkats distance medley relay tandem of Camry Grigsby, Jasmine Lewis, Briana McCall and Nicole Aponte also secured second and a school-record time of 11:48.59. Not to disappoint, the men's DMR team of Evan Arambula, Kevin Beasley, Robert Monticone and Chris Speaks put forth a school-record time of 10:05.09 in fourth.
In the men's shot put, Kalvin Singletary brought home a big personal best with a mark of 53 feet, 10 ½ inches, good enough for sixth.
QUARTERFINALS RESULTS
Through four events in the men's heptathlon, Sam Houston sophomore Tyler Adams holds down the top spot with 3,054 points highlighted by a meet-record 6 feet, 11 ¾ inches in a first-place high jump finish. Fellow Bearkats Dylan Elliott (2,609) and Kagan Angers (2,596) sit in eighth and ninth. The heptathlon resumes Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. with the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000-meter run remaining.
In the 60-meter dash, senior Danielle Demas qualified for Tuesday's championships by re-setting her own school record with a first-place time of 7.52. Teammate Paula Smith will also be lined up in the championship, taking sixth at 7.70.
The duo continued their outstanding day in the 200-meter dash as both qualified again. Demas went second at 24.25 and Smith secured sixth at 24.61.
For the men's 60 meters, Justin Jenkins and Chris Jefferson each logged times of 6.81 in third and fourth to quality among the top eight competitors. Jefferson and Jenkins also qualified in the 200 meters with marks of 21.54 in fourth and 21.62 in seventh respectively.
Meanwhile, in the mile, Jeffrey Moore and Nicole Aponte each advanced to Tuesday's finals. Moore did so with a third-place mark of 4:14.56 while Aponte secured a personal best at 5:01.36 in fifth.
In the 400-meter dash, Kodii Church (55.68), Jordan Grady (55.78) and Ruth Amaku (56.84) all qualified for the finals in fourth, fifth and seventh, respectively. Eric Pouncey secured fourth at 48.26 for the men to quality in his first Southland championships.
Junior Briana McCall took the top spot followed by Camry Grigsby in the women's 800 meters with a time of 2:11.50 and 2:15.92 respectively to qualify for the championships. On the men's side, Moore went third at 1:55.77 followed by Robert Monticone in fourth at 1:53.35 to qualify.
On Tuesday, the squads will hope to put it all together and sweep the championships for the first time in 10 seasons. A season ago, both squads finished runner up to rival Stephen F. Austin and felt as if they let it slip away.
“There are days when we may need a little extra motivation and we bring up how close we were last year,” Self said. “Especially with the coaching staff, I wouldn't say it is at the front of our minds, but it definitely isn't in the back of our minds.”
