Day 1 Men’s Results | Day 1 Women’s Results Championship Central
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Four conference record-breaking performances highlighted the opening day action of the 2018 American Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex on Friday. Through the first day, the Wichita State men’s team leads the way with 52 points, while Cincinnati is ahead of the women with 54 points.
Six reigning conference champions returned and successfully defended their titles, while five athletes won their first career gold medals at the championship meet.
Cincinnati claimed the first two 2018 American Championships events. Senior Adrian Valles became the first American Athletic Conference athlete to win four conference titles after clearing a height of 5.50 meters (18’00.50”) in the pole vault.
Cincinnati junior Naomi Urbano also defended her title in the pentathlon, winning the event with a score of 3,805 to earn 10 points for the women’s team. Urbano was in third place prior to the 800-meter run, as her second place finish in that event propelled her to the conference title. She finished top-three in three out of five of the events. The Bearcats also took bronze in the pentathlon with teammate Angela Lightfoot registering 3,742 points.
Two historic performances in the heptathlon highlighted the action at the start the meet. First, Cincinnati senior Alex Bloom broke the heptathlon 60-meter dash record for the second time in a row, running 7.00 flat. Then in the long jump, Houston sophomore Nathaniel Mechler matched the heptathlon conference record with a distance of 7.43 meters. After day one, Bloom leads the heptathlon with 3,297 points, and Mechler will enter tomorrow in second place with 3,154 points. Bloom will search for his second conference title after he won the high jump with a clearance of 2.11 meters later in the day.
Cincinnati swept the pole vault events after Brooke Catherine cleared a height of 4.09 meters to claim the first place spot for the women too. Tulane’s Rebekah Markel and ECU’s Sommer Knight each had 3.99-meter clearances to tie for the runner-up spot.
Six distance runners broke the conference record in the men’s 5,000-meter run, including Tulsa’s defending champion Benjamin Preisner, who won gold again with a time of 14.09.96 to set the new record. He bettered his own record by nearly 21 seconds. Also beating the previous record was Cincinnati’s Aaron Bienenfeld (14.13.82), UConn’s Patrick Begley (14:16.61), Tulsa’s Adam Roderique (14:26.20), UConn’s Kyle Brackman (14.29.08) and ECU’s Nicholas Ciaccia (14:30.51).
After finishing in second place last year, ECU junior Ryan Davis entered the day at the top of The American performance list and carried the energy into the championships. He broke the meet record with a distance of 21.00 meters (68’10.75”) on the way to his first championship title. The 2017 champion, Aleks Rapp of Tulsa, finished second after breaking his own record with a distance of 20.24 meters.
Senior Annette Echikunwoke picked up her third conference weight throw title with her toss of 22.15 meters. The senior is the No. 3 thrower in the world and No. 1 in the nation this year. She is also the conference’s weight throw record holder. The next-best distance came from Memphis freshman DeeNia McMiller with her throw of 19.89 meters.
The UConn women’s relay team of Susan Aneno, Kristina Cherrington, Katie Foley and Mia Nahom won its third straight distance medley relay title with a record-breaking time of 11:29.93. SMU won silver with a time of 11:36.33, as Temple took third place with its time of 11:36.18.
Tulsa pulled ahead of Wichita State on the final lap to earn its fourth men’s distance medley relay title with a time of 10:01.07—just 0.11 seconds ahead of the Shockers.
Houston sophomore Samiyah Samuels won the long jump with a season-best distance of 6.17 meters (20’03”). It marks the first time the Cougars have taken home gold in this event, as the sophomore was 0.02 meters off from the meet record. Last year’s champion, Cincinnati’s Kellsa Mbah, placed second with her distance of 5.95 meters.
SMU’s Hannah Miller ran ahead of the pack and refused to look back, winning gold in the 5,000-meter run. She clocked a time of 16:34.94. She claims her second American Athletic Conference title after winning the cross country championship in October too. She ended the day leading the conference with 12 points.
Four Wichita State jumpers scored in the long jump, as Jared Belardo became the first Shocker to capture an American indoor title after landing in first place with a season-best distance of 7.70 meters. Houston’s Antwan Dickerson took second place with a distance of 7.54 meters, while Rayvon Allen and Hunter Veith earned key points in third and fourth place, respectively.
Five Temple runners and four UConn student-athletes will advance to the finals of the women’s one mile run tomorrow. Holding the top time to enter the finals race tomorrow is SMU’s Tess Misgen (4:54.72).
For the men, Wichita State’s Zack Penrod ran the mile in 4:09.99 in his inaugural American Athletic Conference race to lead the pack in the trial run. Four Huskies also qualified for the finals too.
Cincinnati dominated the 400-meter dash with three Bearcats claiming the top spots in the prelims. Senior reigning champion Bryana Robinson holds the top time at 53.70, as sophomore Tiona Lattimore (55.49) and junior Haisha Bisiolu (55.54) were second and third, respectively.
The men ran a close trial round in the 400-meter dash with Houston junior Kahmari Montgomery pacing the group. He finished with a leading time of 47.30, as UConn’s Trenten Beram followed in second at 47.57. The finals will also feature last year’s champion, Cincinnati’s Jimmy Brooks, who finished with the sixth-best time at 48.06.
The women’s 60-meter dash favorite led the way in the preliminary round, as SMU sophomore Chelsea Francis finished with a mark of 7.38. Her time was 0.08 seconds off from her personal record, as she ran four seconds ahead of Memphis’ Cera Chavez and Houston’s Brianna Bethel, who each clocked 7.42.
Senior Elijah Hall entered the meet atop the conference performance list and ranked top-five in the nation in the men’s 60-meter dash, but teammate Mario Burke ran one-tenth of a second faster to enter tomorrow’s final with the top time at 6.66. Hall bounced back in the 200-meter dash prelims, running just 0.13 seconds off the meet record at 20.86. Two Tigers trailed in second, as the meet will have a new conference champion tomorrow.
After day one, Houston’s Naomi Taylor leads the conference in the 60-meter hurdles with a prelim time of 8.44. She clocked a time of 8.26 earlier this season, which ties the conference record. SMU’s Latessa Johnson came close to the conference’s meet record in the 200-meter dash prelims, running 23.54. On her heels was a Mustang teammate in Francis, running a time of 23.93.
Houston’s men team received two more No. 1 prelim finishes after junior Cameron Laverty ran the 800-meter run in 1:51.77 and classmate Amere Lattin ran for 8:09 in the 60-meter hurdles. Lattin is the defending conference champion.
On the women’s side, UConn’s Susan Aneno topped two-time defending conference champion, UCF’s Rosie Chamberlain’s time at 2:11.39 in the 800-meter run. It should be a tight final tomorrow with five athletes running within the 2:11 mark.
The 2018 Indoor Track and Field Championships conclude Saturday (Feb. 24) starting at 10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT, at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala. The entirety of Day Two will be streamed live on the American Digital Network and any information can be found the Championship Central page at theamerican.org/ITF.
Men’s Teams Scores
Wichita State – 52
Cincinnati – 43
UConn – 35.5
Tulsa – 34
Memphis – 19
USF – 18
Houston – 17
ECU – 15.5
Women’s Teams Scores
Cincinnati – 54
ECU – 24.5
SMU – 24
UConn – 23
USF – 22.5
Tulane – 21
Houston – 21
UCF – 14
Temple – 14
Memphis – 8
Tulsa – 8
Wichita State – 3
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24 SCHEDULE All times Central
Men’s Heptathlon
9:00 a.m. M-Heptathlon 60m Hurdles
10:00 a.m. M-Heptathlon Pole Vault
3:05 p.m. M-Heptathlon 1000m Run
Field Events
9:45 a.m. High Jump - Women (Pit A) Trials & FINAL
10:00 a.m. Shot Put - Men Trials & FINAL
11:00 a.m. Triple Jump - Women (Pit A) Trials & FINAL
12:30 p.m. Shot Put - Women Trials & FINAL
1:00 p.m. Triple Jump - Men (pit B) Trials & FINAL
Track Events (All Finals)
11:15 a.m. Mile Run - Women
11:25 a.m. Mile Run - Men
11:55 a.m. 60m Hurdles - Women
12:05 p.m. 60m Hurdles - Men
12:15 p.m. 60m Dash- Women
12:25 p.m. 60m Dash - Men
12:45 p.m. 400m Dash - Women (2-Sectional Final)
12:55 p.m. 400m Dash - Men (2-Sectional Final)
1:05 p.m. 800m Run - Women
1:15 p.m. 800m Run - Men
1:25 p.m. 200m Dash - Women (2-section final)
1:35 p.m. 200m Dash - Men (2-section final)
1:45 p.m. 3,000m Run - Women Unseeded
2:00 p.m. 3,000m Run - Men Unseeded
2:15 p.m. 3,000m Run - Women Seeded
2:30 p.m. 3,000m Run - Men Seeded
2:45 p.m. 4 x 400m Relay - Women
2:55 p.m. 4 x 400m Relay – Men
3:20 p.m. AWARDS CEREMONY