LAFAYETTE, La. (5/14/16) – Second day competition at the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships wrapped up Saturday and Arkansas State is in good position to finish high in the final standings when the meet wraps up Sunday.

The A-State men have totaled 55 points in seven events and trail leader South Alabama (57) by two points heading into Sunday. Host UL Lafayette is third with 41 points while ULM is fourth with 40 points. On the women's side, South Alabama has a large lead with 86 points in the two days to lead over Texas State (52), Appalachian State (50) and the Red Wolves (46).  

“I like where we are as a team heading into the final day,” said A-State head coach Jim Patchell. “We have competed much better than we did at this point indoors and we are set up about where I wanted us to be heading into the last day. We have who we needed to qualify for finals, so we just need to keep the momentum going tomorrow.”

A-State claimed a pair of individual championships on Saturday after seeing Wil Norris win the first on Friday night. Erin Farmer (shot put), Roelf Pienaar (long jump) and Samone Thompson (heptathlon) earned individual championships in their events Saturday. Norris claimed the top honors in the 10,000-meter run on Friday.

Farmer earned the shot put crown, the first of her career, with a Sun Belt and school record toss of 17.80m (58-04.75). The throw ranks third nationally and beat the Sun Belt outdoor record of 17.49m set in 2014 by Jessica Ramsey of Western Kentucky. She established the school record for the fourth time this outdoor season, besting her previous record of 17.23m (56-06.50).

Pienaar laid claim to his third-straight championship in the outdoor long jump and seventh Sun Belt title indoors and outdoors. He posted a leap of 7.87m (25-10.00) to edge out the competition. Jamil Peeples also registered points for A-State in the event, finishing eighth with a leap of 7.19m (23-07.25).

Thompson, who won the indoor pentathlon championship, had a busy day as she completed the heptathlon with 5,067 points to claim to honors. She posted the third-best prelim time in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.80 seconds and came across fifth in the 400-meter hurdles with a prelim time of 1:01.69. She will compete in the finals of each event on Sunday.

In the 100-meter hurdles, the first preliminary on the track Saturday, A-State found success. Joining Thompson in the finals will be Shemiah Brooks and Emenderlyn Iwuji. Brooks posted the top time in the prelims of 13.70 seconds, the second-fastest time in program history. Thompson was third in 13.80 seconds, the fourth-fastest in school history and Iwuji qualified fourth overall with a time of 13.82 seconds.

The A-State women also qualified multiple sprinters for the 400-meter dash final. Keturah Smith crossed the finish line with the second-best time of 54.58 seconds while Erika Christian ranked eighth, clocking a 55.79 second 400-meters.

Kristina Knott started her busy day by posting a fourth-place long jump of 5.89m (19-04.00) to earn five points. She also competed in the prelims for the 100 and 200-meter dashes posting the top mark in each. She paced the field in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.45 seconds and dashed to a time of 23.63 seconds in the 200-meters. Her time of 23.63 seconds in the 200-meter dash ranks second in program history behind Sharika Nelvis (23.39).

Andrea Perez also qualified for finals on Sunday, posting a time of 2:13.94 in the 800-meter run. The time ranked eighth of the qualifiers and moves her up to fifth in program history. A-State earned valuable points in the women's high jump as well with a third place finish from Darragh May (1.71m/5-07.25) and a seventh place clearance (1.71m/5-07.25) by Ivery Guyton.

Norris won the 10,000-meter run on Friday with a time of 30:48.53 to earn 10 points. He added to that total Saturday, finishing sixth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:23.41) to pick up three points. Drew Mueller placed eighth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:31.90) to pick up a point as well.

Jaylen Bacon shined on the track Saturday, posting the top prelim times in the 100 and 200-meter dash. He blistered the track with a time of 10.29 seconds in the 100-meter dash and followed with a time of 20.75 seconds in the 200-meter.

The men's squad also fared well in the hurdles with a pair of athletes qualifying for the 110-meter hurdles. Jamil Peeples, indoor 60-meter hurdles SBC champion, ranked second among the qualifiers with a time of 14.32 seconds while Clarence Simpkins was fifth with a time of 14.39 seconds.

Zach VanGundy posted a seventh place finish in the 800-meter run to pick up a pair of points. He crossed the line with a time of 1:52.67. A-State fared well in the men's shot put with a pair of newcomers picking up points. Itamar Levi, a junior transfer who sat out the indoor season, finished second with a throw of 18.59m (61-00.00) while freshman Juan Pimentel was sixth with a throw of 15.89m (52-01.75). Levi's throw moves him from fourth in the program's top-10 to second.

Cristian Ravar Ladislau earned all-conference honors with a second place finish in the hammer throw Friday. Ladislau posted a personal-best throw of 63.26m (207-06), the second-best throw in program history. In the women's hammer throw, Farmer finished eighth with a launch of 52.67m (172-10).

The women's pole vault was also contested Friday. Alexandra Pevtsova finished sixth with a vault of 3.75m (12-03.50). In the women's 10,000-meter run Friday night, Arnica Zitting finished fifth with a time of 37:06.16.

The third and final day of competition for the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships begins at 10 a.m. Sunday with the men's discus throw. Women's discus and men's pole vault begins at noon and the men's triple jump is at 12:30 p.m. Women's triple jump is scheduled for 3 p.m. and the men's high jump is slated for 4 p.m. Finals on the track begin at 5 p.m. with the 4x100-meter relay and wraps up at 8 p.m. with the 4x400-meter relay.

Fans can follow Arkansas State track and field on Twitter (@AStateTrack) to receive the latest information and team updates. Meet results and notables will be available via Twitter (@AStateGameday) as well. Live video and results are available via links on the A-State Track & Field schedule on AStateRedWolves.com.