Championship Central | Results | Photos
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Houston women lead the way with 38 points through six scored events after the first day of the 2019 American Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. The action continues at the Birmingham CrossPlex on Saturday with the final 11 women’s events.
Five meet records fell on Friday, as two returning indoor champions successfully defended their titles. Four of Friday’s six champions took home their first American indoor gold medals.
Wichita State ended the day in second place with 31.5 points while 2018 champion Cincinnati holds the third-place spot to enter the final day with 27.5 points.
Two of the most exciting events of the day came towards the end in a pair of key distance races. SMU’s Hannah Miller and Wichita State’s Winny Koskei battled for first place in the 5,000-meter run. Miller, the 2018 5,000 and 3,000-meter indoor champion, returned to defend her title, but once again Koskei came out on top in a key long-distance matchup. Koskei used a strong kick to race ahead of Miller in the final stretch and win the race in 16:23.64. Miller placed second in 16:24.15, followed by teammate Svenja Ojstersek in third place (16:36.62). Another Mustang finished in the top eight with Anneke Grogan coming in seventh place with her time of 17:04.41.
Koskei also won the 5,000 and 10,000-meter outdoor titles in 2018 before finishing first place in the 2018 American Cross Country Championship.
The Shockers then followed with a massive win in the distance medley relay behind Rebekah Topham’s explosive anchor run. Wichita State, which won The American’s 2018 Cross Country title, finished the race in 11:32.19. After her outing in the 5,000m, SMU’s Miller returned to the track to run the anchor leg of DMR. Miller paced past Temple and Tulsa, but Topham bolted ahead of the pack in her final two laps to give Wichita State its first American DMR title. SMU took silver for a second-straight year, while Tulsa placed third.
For a third-straight year, Cincinnati took home the indoor pentathlon title—this time in record fashion. Junior Angelica Lightfoot placed first with the most points in conference history (2,926) after winning the final three events. She started off the day running below the meet-record time in the 60-meter hurdles (8.56) to finish second in that event. After finishing second in the high jump (1.68 meters), Lightfoot, who finished in third place last year, moved into the first-place spot after winning the shot put with a personal-record toss of 13.30 meters. She refused to look back from there, following with top finishes in the long jump (5.83 meters) and 800-meter run (2:42.30).
Tulane pole vaulter Rebekah Markel won her first American title, breaking the indoor meet record with her clearance of 4.23 meters on her first attempt. Markel recorded an all-time conference-record clearance of 4.33 meters in the regular season. The Green Wave swept the event with Alex Potts finishing second after clearing 3.99 meters on her first attempt and Nastja Modic placing third after clearing the same height on her second attempt.
Houston thrower Taylor Scaife has had a record year, entering the conference meet with the third-furthest weight throw toss in the nation. The junior carried the momentum into the championship, taking home her first American title. Scaife was the only conference athlete to throw for 21 meters and did so on three attempts. Her furthest toss traveled 21.58 meters. It marked the second podium finish at the indoor conference meet for Scaife, who placed third in 2017. Teammate Priscilla Adejokun finished third (20.27m), while Memphis claimed the runner-up spot with DeeNia McMiller recording a toss of 20.08 meters. Memphis saw two other athletes finish in the top eight, while UCF also had multiple athletes bring in points from the weight throw.
USF’s Adriana Janic had a tremendous start to the pentathlon competition and finished as the league’s runner up with 3,791 points. Janic, who entered the meet with the third-best score on the conference’s performance list (3,844), ended the day with three top-three pentathlon marks, including two first-place finishes and a meet record. She started the day with a meet-record time of 8.54 seconds to win the 60-meter hurdles and followed with a first-place clearance of 1.74 meters (5.08.95) in the high jump. Janic’s third top-three pentathlon finish came in the long jump with her distance of 5.73 meters.
Claudia Rojo of Wichita State placed third in the pentathlon (3,749 points) after a pair of top-three finishes to wrap up the competition. She took third place in both the long jump (5.60 meters) and 800-meter run (2:22.29). The Bearcats and Shockers each had two other athletes finish in the top eight of the pentathlon.
Coming within 0.01 meters of tying The American’s record, Houston junior Samiyah Samuels repeated in the long jump, successfully defending her title after leaping 6.18 meters on her fourth attempt. Samuels also won the 2018 outdoor title in this event. Phedenia George-Mosbey was the second Cougar to finish in the top four with her distance of 5.83 meters. ECU’s Mackenzie Whitaker registered a distance of 5.87 meters to place second, while Memphis’ Tanalaya Gordon saved her best jump for last, as she claimed third place with her distance of 5.85 meters on her final attempt.
Houston’s Naomi Taylor had one of the most impressive performances on the day, running a meet-record time of 8.08 seconds to win her heat of the 60-meter hurdles prelims. Her time ranks eighth nationally this season. Lightfoot continued an impressive day, finishing with the next-best prelim time (8.43 seconds). Two Tulane hurdlers, including 2018 champion Brandi Hughes, ran top-eight times to advance to tomorrow’s final race.
SMU junior Chelsea Francis, who was the 2018 60-meter dash runner-up, set The American’s meet record with her time of 7.26 seconds in the prelims, good for ranking in the nation’s top 15. Last year’s champion Brianne Bethel of Houston had the next-best prelims time of 7.31 seconds. But it was UCF who dominated the event with fourth athletes advancing to Saturday’s finals. Shian Hyde, Imani Clark, Ciara Holback and Nelda Huggins will each represent the Knights in the 60m tomorrow.
Bethel (23.23) and Francis (23.53) posted the top two times in the 200-meter dash as well. For the past three seasons, the women’s 200-meter dash title has gone to either Houston or SMU. Bethel was the 2018 runner up, while Francis finished third. UCF’s Clark, Hyde and Holback will also join them in the final race after they each won their heat.
UConn’s Kat Surin has been a podium finisher in the 400-meter dash in each of the past two years and will look to make it three in a row after running the fastest time in the prelims (53.89 seconds). Teammate Susan Aneno, an 800-meter specialist, ran the third-fastest 400m prelim time (54.93 seconds). Birexus Hawkins of Houston placed third in the 400m last year and ran the second-fastest in the prelim round Friday (54.90 seconds).
Aneno, the conference’s defending 800m champion, returned to the track, running the fastest 800m prelim time of 2:09.27. Cincinnati (Sammy Hentz and Rylee Penn) and Temple (Helene Holm Gottlieb and Millie Howard) each performed well in this event, sending a pair of athletes to Saturday’s final race.
Gottlieb and Howard will also run in Saturday’s mile race after clocking the top-two trial times of 4:57.61 and 4:57.65, respectively. Howard set the mile meet record in 2018 with her time of 4:46.21. Wichita State’s
Topham won her heat in 4:58.08. UConn worked together to finish one (Talia Staiger), two (Mia Nahom) and three (Allie Alsup) in the third heat to advance to Saturday’s race.
Women’s Teams Scores
1) Houston – 38
2) Wichita State – 31.5
3) Cincinnati – 27.5
4) Tulane – 24
4) SMU – 24
6) Memphis – 19
7) East Carolina – 18
8) UCF – 15
9.) USF – 13
10.) Tulsa – 12
11.) UConn – 7
12.) Temple – 5
Championships Schedule:
Saturday, February 23
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 - Men Trials & FINAL
9:45 a.m. High Jump - Women 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
11:20 a.m. Mile Run - Women
11:30 a.m. Mile Run - Men
11:40 p.m. 400m Dash - Women (2-Section Final)
11:50 p.m. 400m Dash - Men (2-Section Final)
12:10 p.m. 60m Hurdles - Women
12:20 p.m. 60m Hurdles - Men
12:30 p.m. 60m Dash- Women
12:40 p.m. 60m Dash - Men
1:00 p.m. 800m Run - Women
1:10 p.m. 800m Run - Men
1:20 p.m. 200m Dash - Women (2-Section final)
1:30 p.m. 200m Dash - Men (2-Section final)
1:40 p.m. 3,000m Run - Women Unseeded
1:55 p.m. 3,000m Run - Men Unseeded
2:10 p.m. 3,000m Run - Women Seeded
2:25 p.m. 3,000m Run - Men Seeded
2:40 p.m. 4 x 400m Relay - Women
2:50 p.m. 4 x 400m Relay - Men
3:20 p.m. AWARDS CEREMONY
All times central