Championship Central | Final Results | Photos
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – On the brink of winning the conference title for the past two years, the Cincinnati women’s team clinched its first American Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship in 2018 with 147 points, while the Houston men scored 139 points to secure its fourth consecutive indoor title at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
Entering day two with just 17 points, the Cougar men won six events on the way to capturing their title. Houston senior sprinter Elijah Hall earned The American’s Co-Most Valuable Men’s Indoor Performance honor, alongside Tulsa junior distance runner Benjamin Preisner, as each athlete won two gold medals to earn a meet-high 20 points for their teams. Houston also earned the Staff of the Year award.
For the past two years, the Bearcat women have taken second place in the conference championships. Cincinnati carried its day one momentum into the final day of competition, earning four top finishes to capture the title with the most points in conference history (147). Eight American Athletic Conference records were broken on day two, as 12 total meet record marks were reset throughout the entirety of the championships.
SMU sophomore distance runner Hannah Miller helped the Mustangs to finishing in second place—their best conference finish since winning in 2014—recording 22 points after winning the 3,000 and 5,000-meter runs. She also ran as part of the second place distance medley relay team on Friday. Miller earned the conference’s Most Valuable Women’s Indoor Performance award for registering the most points in the meet.
Cincinnati’s Loretta Blaut only needed to clear 1.73 meters to win the high jump last season, as she cleared 1.76 meters this year to successfully defend her title. The Bearcats have won the high jump in each of the conference championships. After clinching the title, she cleared 1.87 meters to set a new conference record.
Also defending her title for the Bearcats was senior Bryana Robinson, who ran the 400-meter dash in 53.37 to earn another gold medal. Cincinnati claimed four out of eight of the final spots to earn some big points. Tiona Lattimore finished in second place, while Haisha Bisiolu and Deanna Gesicki placed fourth and fifth, respectively for the Bearcats.
A flock of Owls, led by sophomore Millie Howard, dominated the one mile run to earn some key points. Four out of five of the top finishers were Temple runners. Howard’s time of 4:46.21 broke The American record. Temple ended the meet in the sixth place spot with 51 points.
Memphis got a boost in the men’s shot put after placing three Tigers on the podium for that event. Senior Luke Vaughn set a meet record with his toss of 18.72 meters, followed by classmate Rafael Vallery (17.82 meters) and sophomore Adam Neelly (17.60 meters). It marked the first time a Houston thrower hasn’t won this event as both reigning Cougar champions, Cameron Cornelius and Felipe Valencia, finished in the top-eight. Memphis secured its best finish in The American Indoor Championship, taking second place with 107 points.
For the first time in three years, a new men’s team captured the one mile run when Wichita State’s Zack Penrod ran past the finish line in 4:11.90. It marked the second first place finish for the Shockers in the meet after winning the long jump on Friday. UConn put three runners in the top five, led by sophomore Eric Van Der Els in second place. The Shockers ended the day in third place with 103 points, while the Huskies took fourth with 93.5 points.
Brandi Hughes won gold, while Jessica Duckett took bronze in the 60-meter hurdles for Tulane. Hughes ran a time of 8.34 to get her side 10 points. On Hughe’s heels in second place was Houston’s Naomi Taylor who ran just thousandths of a second behind her.
Houston junior Amere Lattin became the first man in American Athletic Conference history to repeat in the 60-meter hurdles after capturing the title for a second straight season with his time of 7.90. Memphis senior Aaron Persinger ran for second place with his time of 8.02, while Wichita State’s Hunter Veith earned six points for the Shockers in third place.
Another Cougar brought home gold in the 60-meter dash when Brianne Bethel tied the all-time second-best conference mark with her time of 7.31. She ran just two hundredths of a second faster than SMU’s Chelsea Francis, who registered a time of 7.33 for second place. ECU’s Courtney Warner placed third with her time of 7.39. The Pirates took third place with 72.83 points.
Hall lived up to his potential, claiming two titles, including the 60 and 200-meter dashes, He won the 60m dash with a time of 6.67, while teammate Mario Burke finished second with a time of 6.72. Cincinnati freshman Austin Edwards finished in third place. Then in the 200m dash, Hall ran ahead of three Memphis sprinters with a time of 20.78 to win the title. Both gold medals are the first for the senior. Memphis’ Calvin Austin, Devon DeMoss and Andrew Bishop placed second, third and fourth, respectively.
SMU continued to see success on the track. The Mustang’s Latessa Johnson won the women’s 200-meter dash in 2016 and did it again this season—this time, breaking the conference record at 23.17. She was trailed by Houston’s Bethel in second place and teammate Francis in third place.
Miller won another distance event with her time of 9:39.10 in the 3,000-meter run. Similar to her 5,000m performance, she ran ahead of the pack from the very start and refused to look back to earn her second title of the meet. Temple’s Grace Moore clocked a time of 9:44.45 to take second place, and ECU’s Grace Sullivan finished third.
The 400-meter men’s dash featured two former conference champions, but it was Houston’s Kahmari Montgomery that broke both the conference and CrossPlex records with his impressive time of 45.53, shattering the previous conference record by over a second. Memphis’ Jarred Pasley (47.06) and UConn’s Trenten Beram (47.11) placed second and third, respectively.
Cincinnati’s Irati Mitxelena landeda a distance of 12.65 meters to win the triple jump for the women. She becomes the second Bearcat to do so after Rebecka Abrahamsson won in 2016. ECU’s Brooke Stith placed second with a distance of 12.48 meters, while Wichita State’s Meghan Holmes finished third with a jump of 12.31 meters.
The Bearcat women also won the shot put, with two seniors taking the No. 1 and 2 spots. Annette Echikunwoke broke the record with her toss of 16.50 meters, while classmate Ashley Williams finished in second place with a distance of 15.82. UConn’s 2017 champion Divine Oladipo’s, who held the previous record set last year, top throw went 15.66 meters—good for third place.
It took a diving effort by ECU senior Stefano Migliorati to claim the men’s 800-meter run title in a close race. Neck and neck at the finish line, both Migliorati and Houston’s Cameron Laverty dove as the ECU senior won his first American Athletic Conference gold medal by 0.01 seconds (1:50.25). Tulsa’s Robert Tully placed third with his time of 1:51.18.
Preisner picked up where he left off in the distance events, winning the 3,000-meter run. It marked the third straight year a Tulsa runner has claimed this event. He finished in 8:12.89, as the Tulsa men finished in sixth place with 65 points.
UConn Junior Susan Aneno defeated two-time defending champion Rosie Chamberlain in a competitive 800-meter women’s race. The Husky bolted 11-tenths of a second ahead of Chamberlain in the final stretch to earn the title. Teammate Katie Foley finished the race in 2:07.58 to capture third place for UConn. The Huskies finished third in the women’s meet with 74 points.
Cincinnati’s Alex Bloom led the heptathlon up until the 1,000-meter run, when Houston’s reigning champion Nathaniel Mechler placed second with his time of 2:41.10. He also tied for second place in the pole vault and tied for third place in the 60-meter hurdles of the heptathlon to collect the win. His score of 5,703 points stands as a new American record.
The UConn men’s sole gold medal came in the triple jump when junior Malik Snead cleared a distance of 15.48 meters. USF’s Errol Ennis landed in second place with his distance of 15.35 meters. Houston’s Jared Kerr jumped 15.31 meters to clinch bronze.
The UConn women took home the final gold medals of the day with a win in the 4x400-meter relays. The Huskies ran for a time of 3:41.12, followed by Cincinnati with a time of 3:42.13.
Houston finished with a bang, breaking the final conference record of the day in the 4x400-meter relay. The team of Quivell Jordan, Lattin, Mario Burke and Montgomery shattered the previous record with a time of 3:10.03. Memphis took silver and also ran under the prior record after clocking 3:11.81.
WOMEN’S TEAMS SCORES
1. Cincinnati 147
2. SMU 85
3. UConn 74
4. ECU 72.83
5 Houston 64
6. Temple 51
7. Tulane 41
8. UCF 33
9. USF 32.83
10. Memphis 27
11. Tulsa 18
12. Wichita State 16.33
MEN’S TEAMS SCORES
1. Houston 139
2. Memphis 107
3. Wichita State 103
4. UConn 93.5
5. Cincinnati 82
6 Tulsa 65
7. USF 36
8. ECU 36
WOMEN’S MOST VALUABLE INDOOR PERFORMANCE
Hannah Miller, So, SMU
WOMEN’S INDOOR STAFF OF THE YEAR
Cincinnati
WOMEN’S TEAM ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AWARD
Tulane
Co-MEN’S MOST VALUABLE INDOOR PERFORMANCE
Elijah Hall, Sr., Houston
Co-MEN’S MOST VALUABLE INDOOR PERFORMANCE
Benjamin Preisner, Jr., Tulsa
MEN’S INDOOR STAFF OF THE YEAR
Houston
MEN’S TEAM ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AWARD
Memphis
All-Conference performers are top-three finishers in each event.