BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (2/22/16) – The Arkansas State University men's and women's track and field teams opened competition at the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex Monday and posted several records and top-10 all-time performances.
“We had some good performances today,” said A-State head coach Jim Patchell. “Erin (Farmer) set the school record in the weight throw. Jamil Peeples came out of his slump and ran a good hurdles race to make the final. Kristina (Knott) also competed very well today. Jaylen (Bacon) ran the best he has run all year, but overall as a team we didn't compete like we needed to. We left some things out there and made some mistakes, but we are not that far off where we need to be. We are going to need a great day tomorrow from everyone, not just a few individuals. If we do that, I think we have a chance to finish well.”
The Red Wolves men's team sits in fourth place with 28.5 points after five scored events. South Alabama leads with 40 points followed by UT Arlington with 35 points. Texas State is just ahead of A-State with 29 points. The A-State men have five individuals qualified for finals among the 60-meter dash (Bacon), 60-meter hurdles (Peeples), 200-meter dash (Bacon), 400-meter dash (Chambers) and 800-meter run (VanGundy).
The A-State women are in fifth place with 22 points after five scored events. Appalachian State leads the field with 50.5 points followed by Georgia State (29), South Alabama (23) and Texas State (22.5). The Red Wolves have seven individuals qualified for finals among the 60-meter dash (Knott), 60-meter hurdles (Thompson, Iwuji, Cowan), 200-meter dash (Knott) and 400-meter dash (Smith, Christian).
Sophomore Jaylen Bacon established a new school record in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.67 seconds. Bacon won his heat and qualifies for the final Tuesday ranked second among the eight contenders. Sophomore Elijah Ross posted a time of 6.88 seconds, tied for eighth-best time in program history, but his time ranked ninth coming just short of qualifying for the final.
In the women's 60-meter dash, sophomore Kristina Knott posted the top qualifying time finishing the sprint in 7.34 seconds. Knott was the lone qualifier for Tuesday's final among Red Wolves as De'Airis Weakley posted the 10th-best preliminary time of 7.63 seconds.
Bacon also improved upon his school record in the 200-meter dash, posting a time of 21.23 seconds and the top time among competitors. Knott also posted the top time among the contenders in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 24.96 seconds.
Sophomore Keturah Smith logged the top qualifying mark in the 400-meter dash, clocking a 55.30 second race. The time moves her to third all-time in program history and she will be joined by junior Erika Christian in the final. Christian qualified eighth with a time of 56.91 seconds. Sophomore Travius Chambers qualified for the final on the men's side, posting the seventh-best preliminary time of 48.94 seconds.
Junior Samone Thompson, senior Emederlyn Iwuji and sophomore Trevene Cowan each qualified for the final in the 60-meter hurdles. Thompson posted a time of 8.56 seconds, the second-best mark in program history. Iwuji qualified fourth with a time of 8.72 seconds while Cowan ranked eighth with a time of 8.76 seconds. Cowan climbed up the program ranks to sixth with her preliminary time. Sophomore Jamil Peeples qualified third in the 60-meter hurdles, posting a time of 8.08 seconds. The time ranks him fifth-best in program history.
In the distance events, senior Wil Norris posted the second-fastest 3000-meter run time in program history with a fifth place finish of 8:25.97. The time ranks second behind Bob Gray's record of 8:15.34 set in 1970. In the 800-meter run, junior Zach VanGundy finished eighth in the preliminary with a time of 1:54.66 which advances him to the final Tuesday. The men's distance medley relay team of senior Drew Mueller, freshman Clarence Simpkins, freshman Sean Martin and sophomore Rickus Jacobs posted a fourth place finish with a time of 10:18.01.
On the women's side, senior Abbey Dixon finished eighth in the 3000-meter run to pick up a point for A-State. Dixon posted a personal-best time of 10:06.22, the fifth-fastest time in program history. The women's distance medley relay team of freshman Kyandra Chandler, Cowan, freshman Andrea Perez and sophomore Arnica Zitting recorded a time of 12:21.13, the fifth-best time in program history. The time earned a fifth place finish and four points toward the team standings.
Although the Red Wolves failed to field an individual champion on the first day, A-State picked up valuable points through the field event finals. Junior Erin Farmer set a new program record in the weight throw and finished second with a throw of 19.34m (63-5.50). Sophomore Cristian Ravar Ladislau placed fifth in the weight throw to earn four points with a throw of 17.51m (57-05.50).
Junior Roelf Pienaar placed second in the long jump with a leap of 7.57m (24-10.00). Sophomore Jonah Wiley finished eighth to give A-State a total of nine points in the event as he posted a jump of 7.12m (23-04.50). Freshman Sam Bell vaulted for the first time this season and placed fourth with a vault of 4.85m (15-11.00). Freshman Cameron Stalnaker finished tied for seventh with a vault of 4.71m (15-05.50) to make it 6.5 points in the pole vault for A-State.
Knott and Thompson both added points for the women's side in the long jump with top-eight finishes. Knott entered the meet with the top mark on the season, but finished fifth with a leap of 5.80m (19-00.50). Thompson finished eighth with a jump of 5.70m (18-08.50) to produce five points total for A-State. Sophomore Ivery Guyton cleared 1.66m (5-05.25) in the high jump to finish tied for fourth and add four points for the women.
Thompson will have finals in 60-meter hurdles in addition to the pentathlon on Tuesday. After four events of the heptathlon, sophomore David Phillips is in fourth with 2,784 points. Franz Beyer of Louisiana leads the heptathlon with 2,942 points. Junior Clint Ligon compiled 2,678 points and stands in sixth while freshman Dalton Romero is 12th with 2,265 points.
Tuesday will feature field event finals in men's (12 p.m.) and women's (2:30 p.m.) triple jump, men's (1:00 p.m.) and women's (3:00 p.m.) shot put, women's pole vault (1:30 p.m.) and men's high jump (3:00 p.m.).
Finals on the track begin at 12:30 p.m. with the women's mile run. The day concludes with the 4x400-meter relays at 4 p.m. and 4:15 p.m., respectively, with awards presentations scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
Live coverage on day two begins at 12 p.m. CT for the first session. The final session of the championship on Tuesday will begin at 2:35 p.m. CT. Live action can be viewed by visiting the Indoor Track and Field Championship Central page - http://www.sunbeltsports.org/custompages/champs/indoor/2016/ITF.asp or by clicking on one of the links below during the scheduled times.
Fans can follow @AStateGameday on Twitter for up to date information throughout the meet.
