CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
STORRS, Conn. - The Tulsa men and UConn women used strong showings from their distance runners to take the team leads through one day at the 2015 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the George J. Sherman Family - Sports Complex at UConn.
Tulsa racked up 23 points in the men’s 10,000-meter run on its way to a first-place standing with 31 points after Day 1. UConn is second with 17 points, while Cincinnati, East Carolina and Tulane each have six. Houston (5), Memphis (5) and USF (2) round out the field.
UConn holds a four-point lead on the women’s side with 18 points through two events. East Carolina and SMU are tied with 14 points apiece, while Cincinnati is fourth at 13. UCF (6), Tulsa (6), USF (5) and Tulane (2) also scored in the two event finals on Thursday.
Tulsa took the top two spots and four of the top seven in the men’s 10,000-meter run. Marc Scott finished first in 30:40.55, while Tim Rackers (30:42.44) was second. Tulane freshman Moses Aloiloi placed third (31:01.12).
The host Huskies took first and second in the women’s 10,000-meter run. Emily Durgin paced the field with a meet-record finish (34:30.49), while teammate Lauren Sara (34:41.30) also came in under the record of 34:47.24 set by UCF’s Anne-Marie Blaney last year in Tampa. Caitlin Keen of SMU (35:21.30) finished third.
UConn’s Chris Ackell won the men’s hammer throw in a meet-record 198-11/60.63m. Tulsa’s Alex Lybarger finished second (196-9/59.96m), while East Carolina’s Thomas Lehman (186-5/56.83m) was third.
East Carolina’s Kaylee Redon was the winner in the women’s hammer with a toss of 191-3/58.30m. Redon was followed by Cincinnati’s Monica Phillips (186-6/56.86m) and UCF’s Kalen Hambrick (185-11/56.67m).
Memphis’ Luis Hanssler leads the decathlon through five events with a score of 3,950. East Carolina holds the next two spots entering Day 2 with Joey Muzzio (3,815) in second and Alexander Mobley-Hollie (3,730) in third.
USF’s Lindsay Arnold stands in first place in the heptathlon by one point (3,120) over Cincinnati’s Kaitlyn Good (3,119) through four events. SMU’s Lucija Cvitanovic (3,066) is third with the long jump, javelin and 800-meter run remaining.
Friday’s events begin with the men’s discus at 10 a.m. Full coverage of The American Championships is available at TheAmerican.org/OTF and @AmericanXCTrack on Twitter.