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Final Results | Highlights | Champ Central | Photos
 
CINCINNATI, OHIO – The Houston men’s and women’s track and field teams swept the 2018 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships behind dominate track performances on Sunday at Cincinnati’s Gettler Stadium. The Cougar men captured their third-straight title, while the women won their first conference championship. It marked the first time in conference history that the track and field championships were swept by a school. Ten meet records were broken on the final day and 21 fell in total throughout the conference championships.


 
Memphis’ Luke Vaughn earned The American’s Men’s Most Valuable Outdoor Performance honor for collecting a meet-high 23 points. He took home gold in the discus and shot put, while also scoring in the hammer throw. Houston’s Brianne Bethel won the conference’s Women’s Most Valuable Outdoor Performance award. She won both the 100 and 200-meter dashes and ran as part of the Cougars’ first-place relay teams. Houston won the men’s and women’s Outdoor Staff of the Year award for placing first in both meets. Each top-three finals finisher earned All-Conference recognition.
   
The Houston men were in fourth place with 57 points before winning six track events to move into the lead, ending the meet with 172 points. Memphis secured its fifth top-five finish, taking second place with 147.50 points. Wichita State earned several trips to the podium and led for portions of the meet, ending the day in third place with 130 points. UConn placed fourth with 112 points, followed by Tulsa to round off the top five with 78 points. Cincinnati finished sixth (63 points), while ECU (56.50 points), USF (40 points) and Tulane (20 points) took the final three spots, respectively.
 
Houston won the 4x100-meter relay to begin its surge. The team of John Lewis III, Nicholas Alexander, Mario Burke and Cameron Burrell repeated for the Cougars’ fifth-straight conference victory in this event. Memphis finished in a close second at 39.59 seconds, while Tulane placed third at 40.26 seconds.
 
Houston’s Mario Burke bested several teammates’ times to sweep the sprints, winning both the 100 and 200-meter dashes. He ran for 10.13 to win a race that featured four teammates, including Burrell, who placed second. It marked the fourth overall and third-straight time the Cougar men won both sprints events. ECU’s Anthony Simpson earned a trip to the podium in third place with his time of 10.40 seconds.
 
Burke and fellow All-America teammate Kahmari Montgomery were neck-and-neck at the finish line for the 200m, as Burke won by thousandths of a second with his time of 20.478. The Cougars swept the event with Burrell placing third at 20.93 seconds.
 
Amere Lattin defended his title in the 110-meter hurdle, winning his third-straight and sixth overall hurdle event with his mark of 13.81 seconds. Connor Duricky of Cincinnati placed second, while D’Ante Yarborough of ECU ran for third place, as each earned all-conference honors. Memphis’ Aaron Persinger picked up five points for the Tigers in fourth place.
 
Lattin returned to the track for the 400-meter hurdles, as the two-time defending champion and record holder in the event. However, Wichita State’s Austin Corley moved from 38th to No. 7 in the nation with his meet-record mark of 50.07 seconds to dethrone Lattin and take the title. Lattin ran 50.23 seconds for second place, while freshman teammate Quivell Jordan took third place at 51.11 seconds. Four Cougars total were featured in the race.
 
This year’s indoor 400-meter dash winner, Montgomery, won the outdoor event too for another podium appearance with his time of 45.93 seconds. The race featured 2017 champion Raymond Kibet of Tulane, who finished third at 46.90 seconds and UConn’s Trent Beram, who placed second with 46.82 points.
 
The Cougars clinched the final event of the day, winning their third-straight and fourth overall 4x400-meter relay in 3:10.17. The team featured a pair of freshman, as junior Trumaine Jordan ran ahead of Memphis’ Antaun Andrews on the anchor lap to clinch the victory. ECU took third place after clocking 3:11.13.
 
Vaughn, an All-America thrower, picked up his second title of the meet in the shot put with his toss of 18.89 meters. He regained the title after winning it in 2016 and was only 0.01 meters off from The American’s meet record set in 2017. Last year’s runner up, Houston’s Felipe Valencia, placed second again with his distance of 18.70 meters. Two Tigers followed with Rafael Vallery making his second podium appearance of the meet in third place at 18.33 meters and Adam Neelly placing fourth with his toss of 18.26 meters. Another Cougar threw for a scoring spot as former indoor shot put champion Cameron Cornelius placed fifth with his distance of 18.26 meters.
 
Wichita State entered the day in the lead and carried its momentum into Sunday. The Shockers dominated the men’s javelin throw with four athletes posting scoring marks to combine for 24 points in the first event of the final day. Aaron True took gold and shattered the previous conference meet record with his personal-record distance of 77.49 meters, which ranks No. 4 in the nation. Freshman teammate Taran Taylor also bettered the previous conference mark with his personal-record throw of 74.26 meters to place second—another top-five mark in the NCAA. The finals field featured two former conference champions, including Memphis’ Michael Criticos, who set the former meet mark in (2016), and last year’s winner, Seth Zuidema of UConn. Criticos placed third with his top throw of 69.28 meters, while Zuidema placed fourth at 69.00 meters.
 
The American saw a new men’s pole vault champion when Craig Hunter of UConn won the event with his clearance of 5.15 meters (16-10.75). The senior has been on the brink of a conference title for the past three seasons, finishing in the top five. Wichita State’s Hayden Bugner also cleared 5.15 meters to place second, while USF’s Joe Fogarasi took third place with his clearance of 5.00 meters. Last year’s runner up, David Bell of USF finished in fourth place, while two other Huskies joined Hunter in the top eight.
 
Another Husky placed first in a field event following freshman Daniel Claxton’s winning leap of 2.16 meters in the high jump. He finished in front of freshman teammate Safir Scott, 2017 champion Jordan Wesner of Memphis and this year’s indoor high jump winner, Alex Bloom of Cincinnati.
 
USF’s sole first-place finish came in the triple jump—a conference event won by a Bull twice before. Errol Ennis jumped ahead of indoor long jump champion Jared Belardo of Wichita State and last year’s triple jump winner, Jared Kerr of Houston to clinch the title with a distance of 16.03 meters.
 
ECU’s Stefano Migliorati won his second-straight 800-meter title, ahead of Tulsa’s Grey Howard and UConn’s Tyler Gleen. The senior Pirate also won the 800m indoor championship, using a diving finish in February. Tulsa and Wichita State each had two runners in the finals.
 
Tulsa’s Benjamen Preisner earned another trip to the podium after running the fastest 5,000-meter of the day. Preisner also won the event at this year’s indoor championship where he earned the Co-Most Valuable Indoor Performance honor. It marks the fourth-consecutive year a Golden Hurricane runner has taken gold in this event. Cincinnati’s Aaron Bienenfeld, who won the 10,000-mter run on Thursday placed second, while Tulsa’s Adam Roderique took third place.
Memphis’ Matthew Viveiros used a powerful kick in the final stretch to bolt past this year’s conference indoor mile winner, Zack Penrod of Wichita State, to win the 1,500-meter run in 4:03.22. Memphis’ Brock Ballard finished third to join them in earning All-Conference honors.
 
   
Entering the final day of the championships in fourth place with 30 points, the Houston women used five first-place track performances and won gold in a field event to propel to the top of the team rankings with 113 points. ECU recorded its best finish in meet history, taking second place with 91 points, ahead of Cincinnati in third place with 90.50 points. UConn finished fourth with 87 points, followed by 2014 and 2015 champion, SMU in fifth place (82 points). Memphis finished sixth (75 points), Tulane took seventh (71.50 points), Tulsa placed eighth (49 points), Wichita State finished ninth (45.50 points) and UCF placed 10th (44 points). Temple (36.50 points) and USF (34 points) took the final two spots, respectively.
 
One of the most impressive performances in the women’s meet came from Houston’s Bethel, who defeated two former SMU champions and broke two conference meet records to clinch both the 100 and 200-meter dashes. Each of her times rank in the nation’s top 20. Bethel first defeated reigning Mustang 100m champion Chelsea Francis, while bettering her own conference meet record after clocking 11.20 seconds. She set her second meet record in 22.74 second to pace ahead of Latessa Johnson, who won last year’s 200m race. Bethel had finished second place in both events as a freshman in 2017. Johnson placed second in each race, while Francis ran for third place in both races.
 
Bethel helped her side sweep the relays too. The Cougars took home their first 4x100-meter title after Bethel used a powerful kick off a handoff from teammate Justice Henderson on the way to setting a stadium-record time of 44.46. Last year’s champion Cincinnati placed second at 44.66 seconds, while UCF finished third at 45.34 seconds. Bethel and the Cougars returned to the track to win the 4x400-meter relay in the final event of the meet. She ran the anchor leg ahead of UConn’s 800-meter champion, Susan Aneno, to secure the victory in 3:36.51.
 
A two-time defending 400-meter hurdles champion, Jessica Duckett of Tulane returned to the track for her second hurdles event of the meet, but was defeated by Houston’s Birexus Hawkins, who completed the full-lap hurdles race in 57.56 seconds to break Duckett’s former meet mark. Duckett earned her second piece of hardware in second place at 57.633 seconds, while Tulsa’s Kiara Jones earned a spot on the All-Conference list in third place at 59.30 seconds.
 
Duckett, however, successfully defended her 100-meter hurdles title, while bettering her own conference championship record with her time of 13:02. Houston freshman Naomi Taylor finished second place after clocking 13.38 seconds. Two Green Wave hurdlers placed third and fourth place with Kyah Loyd and Brandi Hughes each running within 13:45 seconds. ECU captured three of the final four spots with Hunter Roberts leading the Pirates in fifth place at 13:52 seconds.
 
The league saw a new women’s triple jump champion when Houston’s Tonye’cia Burks placed first with her distance of 13.01 meters (42-08.25). SMU freshman Atipa Mabonga turned in a second-place finish, leaping 12.69 meters (41-07.75). This year’s indoor champion, Irati Mitxelena of Cincinnati, earned more points for the Bearcats with her distance of 12.68 meters (41-07.25). ECU claimed three of the final five spots with freshman Brooke Stith leading the way for the Pirates at 12.65 meters (41-06).
 
Another stunning national performance came in the women’s high jump as Cincinnati’s Loretta Blaut successfully defended her title, setting a meet record with a big PR of 1.88 meters (6-02.00). Her mark ties the nation’s No. 1 height cleared this year. Temple freshman Aisha Brown bettered the former meet record of 1.77 meters with her leap of 1.82 meters (5-11.50) to place second. The league’s heptathlon runner up, Natosha Jordan of UCF, earned another trip to the podium after clearing 1.76 meters for third place.
 
Memphis’ Ashley Pryke repeated in the women’s javelin throw to retain her title with a distance of 53.77 meters. Teammate Mona Jaidi will join her on the podium after her second-place toss of 49.98 meters. Two other Tigers finished in the top eight, while Wichita State’s Carlea Miles finished third with her toss of 49.75 meters for an All-Conference nod. This year’s freshman Shocker heptathlon champion Kendra Henry, who also won the multi-event’s javelin throw on Saturday, placed fourth with her distance of 47.71 meters.
 
Wichita State freshman Winny Koskei won her second meet title with a first-place finish in the 5,000-meter run with her time of 16:49.01 after winning the 10,000m race on Thursday. She ran ahead of SMU’s Hannah Miller, who set the indoor 5,000m in February. Houston’s Madison Brown placed third to clinch six more points for the Cougars.
 
It was a race between two former champions in the 800-meter run, as UConn’s Aneno defended her title against 2016 conference champion Rosie Chamberlain of UCF in a meet-record setting time of 2:03.89. Chamberlain placed second for a second-straight year, while UConn’s Katie Foley took third place.
 
SMU’s Tochi Nlemchi won the shot put in 2016 and did it again this year, bettering her conference-record throw with a distance of 17.05 meters, good for ranking 12th in the nation. She placed in front of this year’s discus champion, Galissia Cause of ECU (17.02 meters) and last year’s runner-up, Divine Oladipo of UConn (16.48 meters).
 
Tulsa clinched first place in the 400-meter dash with Aaliyah Birmingham running the full lap in 53.96 seconds. She is the first Golden Hurricane sprinter to win the 400m. Tulane’s Maya Harewood ran for second place in 54.18 seconds, followed by two Cincinnati athletes with Haisha Bisiolu taking third and Tiona Lattimore placing fourth.
 
Martina Rodriguez-Sala won the 1,500-meter run in 4:22.65—just 0.29 seconds off from the meet record set last season. This year’s indoor mile winner, Millie Howard of Temple, placed second, while ECU’s Nuria Tillo-Prats finished third. Two other Owls finished in the top eight.
 
 Women’s Team Rankings
1) Houston 113
2) ECU 91
3) Cincinnati 90.50
4) UConn 87
5) SMU 82
6) Memphis 75
7) Tulane 71.50
8) Tulsa 49
9) Wichita State 45.50
10) UCF 44
11) Temple 36.50
12) USF 34
     
Men’s Team Rankings
1) Houston 172
2) Memphis 147.50
3) Wichita State 130
4) UConn 112
5) Tulsa 78
6) Cincinnati 63
7) ECU 56.50
8) USF 40
9) Tulane 20
 
WOMEN’S MOST VALUABLE OUTDOOR PERFORMANCE
Brianne Bethel, Houston

WOMEN’S OUTDOOR STAFF OF THE YEAR
Houston
 
WOMEN’S TEAM ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AWARD
Tulane
 
MEN’S MOST VALUABLE OUTDOOR PERFORMANCE
Luke Vaughn, Memphis
 
MEN’S OUTDOOR STAFF OF THE YEAR
Houston
 
MEN’S TEAM ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AWARD
Memphis
 
*All-Conference performers are top-three finishers in each event.