American Athletic Conference Performances List
 
NCAA Division I Performances List

Outdoor track and field competition began for American Athletic Conference teams last weekend, and two USF athletes along with competitors from Rutgers and SMU earned the first Athlete of the Week awards for the spring season. The Bulls’ Alfred Higgs was named Male Track Athlete of the Week, while Natasha Stewart earned Female Field Athlete of the Week honors. Thomas Carr of Rutgers was named Male Field Athlete of the Week, while Stephanie Kalu of SMU was named Female Track Athlete of the Week.
 
Higgs competed in three events for USF as they hosted the Bulls Invitational in Tampa. He took first place in the 100-meter dash in a blazing 10.42 to top the conference bests list, and followed with a third-place time of 21.69 in the 200-meter dash. Higgs’ 100-meter time currently sits ninth in the nation. He also anchored the 4x100-meter relay team that finished fourth.
 
Stewart hit an impressive distance of 6.32m (20’-9”) to open the season in the long jump, which gave her the first-place mark by nearly four inches. Her jump topped the conference, set a new personal record and sits second in Division I through the first week of competition.
 
Carr, who earned a conference title in the javelin last year, picked up where he left off, winning the event at the Bulls Invitational with a throw of 68.42m (224’-6”). That distance easily tops The American lists and ranks 12^th in the nation.
 
Kalu, the reigning American Athletic Conference Indoor Champion in the 100-meter dash and USTFCCCA Second Team All-American, added another win in the event to open her outdoor season. Her 11.15 time in the 100-meter dash at the TCU Horned Frog Invitational paces The American, as does her 200-meter dash time of 23.21, which placed her second at the meet.
 
Weekend Highlights
 
With every program beginning the outdoor season last weekend, several performances kicked the season off on the right foot for their teams.
 
UCF welcomed conference foes Rutgers and the Cincinnati women to their own Black and Gold Challenge, and nearly every event saw an American Athletic Conference team take the title. For UCF, freshman J’Nea Bellamy was responsible for two of those golds, winning both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Cincinnati swept the pole vault thanks to Alyssa McBride, Sarah Rasnick and Amanda Hotaling.
 
Rutgers’ Asha Ruth won the long jump at the Black and Gold Challenge, and the day prior, picked up three other wins at USF’s Bulls Invitational. Ruth won both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash, and served as the second leg in the winning 4x100-meter relay team.
 
Also at the Bulls Invitational, USF picked up an impressive nine first place finishes, highlighted by Devin Screen’s two golds in the hammer and shot put. The Bulls pulled a sweep in the high jump, with Courtney Anderson winning for on the women’s side and Chase Meyers on the men’s side. Both sit tied for the top mark in The American. The Rutgers men earned wins in both hurdle events, with Alex Malveaux taking the 110-meter race and Kyle Holder the 400-meter version.
 
The Bearcat men and both Louisville programs were at the Alabama Relays in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Cincinnati sophomore Macklin Tudor set a new school record in the discus, tossing 58.20m (190’-11”) and taking third in the event. For Louisville, Calvin Arsenault (400-meter hurdles), Nils Westrich (hammer throw) and Patrice Gates (hammer throw) each notched conference-best performances.
 
Houston participated at the UTSA Texas Challenge Invitational, and picked up one event win at the hands of Karley King in the pole vault (4.10m). She and Sade-Mariah Greenidge (100-meter hurdles), Isaac Williams (110-meter hurdles), Errol Nolan (200-meter dash) and Emiliano Troitino (decathlon) all top the conference best lists in their respective events.
 
The UConn women dominated in their opening meet, the FSU Relays in Tallahassee, Fla. The 4x400-meter relay team of Celina Emerson, Tiffany Daley, Nyanka Joseph and Deysha Smith-Jenkins flew to a school-record time of 3:36.35, which paces The American and sits second in the nation. Emerson, Brigitte Mania and Abby Mace all earned conference-best times to own the middle distance events.
 
On the men’s side, the Huskies attended the Walt Disney World Track & Field Open in Orlando, taking fifth as a team and picking up four first place finishes. Tobey Belton took the high jump, soaring to a conference-topping height of 2.03m.
 
The SMU women continued to ride the momentum after winning the American Athletic Conference indoor title, picking up two wins in addition to Kalu’s at the TCU Horned Frog Invitational. Senior Lisa Egarter claimed the high jump at 1.68m, and sophomore Lucija Cvitanovic won the javelin throw at 47.79 to pace The American.
 
Highlighting Memphis’ outing at the Ole Miss Open was Maya Williamson, who won the 400-meter hurdles and topped The American with her time of 59.82, ranking 15^th nationally. On the men’s side, the Tigers took three first place finishes, and the women earned three more golds in addition to Williamson.
 
At the North Carolina Relays, Temple’s Gabe Pickett returned to the track for the first time since last spring and won the triple jump with a leap of 14.58m.
 
 
Top Conference Marks (Courtesy of TFRRS.org)
 

EVENT	MEN	WOMEN
100m	Alfred Higgs, USF (10.42)	Stephanie Kalu, SMU (11.15)
200m	Errol Nolan, HOU (21.02)	Stephanie Kalu, SMU (23.21)
400m	Darnell Gilbert, CIN (47.25)	Celina Emerson, UCONN (53.09)
800m	LaForrest Church, MEM (1:54.70)	Brigitte Mania, UCONN (2:07.94)
1500m	Anthony Car, CIN (3:55.67)	Abby Mace, UCONN (4:39.65)
3,000m		Tova Magnusson, SMU (9:53.03)
5,000m	Oliver Book, CIN (14:43.80)	Anne-Marie Blaney, UCF (17:00.87)
100H		Sade-Mariah Greenidge, HOU (13.81)
110H	Isaac Williams, HOU (14.10)
400H	Calvin Arsenault, LOU (53.05)	Maya Williamson, MEM (59.82)
3000 Steeple	Michael Babinec, USF (9:40.05)	Bethany Evans, USF (11:37.96)
4x100m Relay	Houston (39.85)	UCF (44.45)
4x400m Relay	Cincinnati (3:18.29)	UConn (3:36.35)
High Jump	Tobey Belton, UCONN (2.03m) Chase Meyers, USF AJ Vance, Rutgers	Courtney Anderson, USF (1.73m) Allison Lampert, UCF
Pole Vault	Josh Dangel, CIN (5.30m)	Karley King, HOU (4.10m) Alyssa McBride, CIN
Long Jump	Jaleen White, MEM (7.22m)	Natasha Stewart, USF (6.32m)
Triple Jump	Matthew O’Neal, USF (15.42m)	Marqueshia Stallworth, USF (12.50m)
Shot Put	Cameron Cornelius, HOU (17.20m)	Helena Perez, SMU (15.69m)
Discus	Macklin Tudor, CIN (58.20m)	Rayann Chin, SMU (48.57m)
Hammer	Nils Westrich, LOU (58.67)	Patrice Gates, LOU (55.00m)
Javelin	Thomas Carr, RU (68.42m)	Lucija Cvitanovic, SMU (47.79m)
Heptathlon		Lindsay Arnold, USF (4,553 pts)
Decathlon	Emiliano Troitino, HOU (5,946 pts)

 
*converted on TFRRS lists for track size or altitude
 
The Week Ahead
 
March 27-30
UCF – UCF Invitational (Orlando, Fla.)
Cincinnati – Oliver Nikoloff Invitational (Cincinnati, Ohio)
UConn men – UConn Home Meet (Storrs, Conn.)
UConn women – Raleigh Relays (Raleigh, N.C.)
Houston – 87^th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays (Austin, Texas); Victor Lopez Classic (Houston, Texas)
Louisville – Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood Invitational (Louisville, Ky.)
Memphis – Memphis Invitational (Memphis, Tenn.)
Rutgers – Fred Hardy Invite (Richmond, Va.)
USF – 87^th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays (Austin, Texas)
SMU – 87^th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays (Austin, Texas)
Temple – Fred Hardy Invitational (Richmond, Va.)