Stephen F. Austin
NCAA Outdoor Championships
SFA Concludes Season Among Nation's Best
6/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
June 14, 2014
Results
EUGENE, Ore. – The 2014 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships came to a close on Saturday afternoon. While Stephen F. Austin was not in action on the final day of the meet, the Lumberjacks did have five entries at the meet this week and finished in a tie for 64th place.
Josh Taylor took seventh place in the 400 meter hurdles on Friday to be SFA’s top finisher. His placing scored SFA’s two points at the championship meet and proved himself as one of the top collegiate hurdlers. He ran 53.03 seconds in the final and got through the semifinals with a time of 50.58.
With Taylor scoring points for the Lumberjacks, it marks the second time in school history the men’s team has scored points in back-to-back years at the NCAA Championship.
The last time SFA scored in back-to-back years was 1993 and 1994. The 1994 team scored 11 points and tied for 22nd place.
Head Coach Phil Olson was pleased with how his Lumberjacks performed on the largest stage in collegiate track and at the historic Hayward Field.
“I am extremely proud of the efforts of our men’s team this week,” Olson said. “Although we didn’t achieve our goal as a top 25 team, we will be bringing what should be recognized as eight All-Americans home to SFA and Nacogdoches.
“It was a huge meet in that regard and just shows how great of a meet this championship is. We appreciate our seniors because they brought us to this high level and have led us to three conference titles since 2011. I can’t thank them enough.”
Taylor was joined in the top 10 by teammate Colton Ross in the pole vault. Ross opened the meet with a tie for 10th place with his clearance of 5.40 meters (17-8.50).
Cass Brown-Stewart was unable to repeat his performance last year at the championship meet when he scored points. He ran his way to a 11th-place finish in the 400 meters with his time of 46.20 seconds.
In his first NCAA Championship, long jumper Jamal Peden finished 23rd. He posted a leap of 6.67 meters (21-10.75).
The men’s 4x400 meter relay team of Hampton Hawkins, Torin Crowder, Taylor and Brown-Stewart closed its historic season with a 14th-place finish in the semifinals. The Lumberjacks ran 3:06.91 in their semifinal heat with some of the nation’s top relay teams. SFA broke the school record twice this year in the event, capping the outdoor careers for three of the seniors on the squad well.
Oregon’s men won the team title on their home turf with 88 points. Texas A&M won the women’s crown with 75 points holding off rival Texas by nine points. Both Oregon and A&M had the title locked up heading into the final event of the meet thanks to scoring in bunches in a number of events with multiple qualifiers for the finals.
The USTFCCCA will announce its All-America teams next week.
sfajacks.com
