Stephen F. Austin
SLC Indoor Championships
SFA Wins Three Titles to Open SLC Meet
2/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Day One Results | Day Two Heat Sheets
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Halfway through the 2015 Southland Conference Indoor Championships, the Stephen F. Austin track and field programs are in great shape after claiming three individual titles on day one at the Birmingham CrossPlex on Monday. The Lumberjack men sit in first place with 52 team points while the Ladyjacks are in second with 34 points heading into Tuesday.
Shambrail Woods, Cameron Meyer and Charles Mathenge highlighted day one for SFA with three individual titles.
Woods was the first to climb to the top of the podium after winning the women’s pentathlon with 3,732 points – the highest total in the event since the 2006 SLC Championships. Sitting in second place with one event to go, Woods set a meet record and new personal best with a 2:20.29 showing in the 800m to earn 820 additional points. The total was good enough to leapfrog New Orleans’ Farydah Inoussa and defend her 2014 SLC title.
SFA’s Madeline Kaufmann finished the women’s pentathlon with 3,513 points to take third and give the Ladyjacks six points.
Meyer gave the Lumberjacks their first 10-point performance of the day by winning the men’s pole vault with a leap of 17-1 (5.21m). Meyer, who took second in last year’s league indoor championship, needed just two attempts to clear the winning height. Teammate Daven Murphree turned in a runner-up effort, surpassing 16-9.25 (5.11m) on his final go to give SFA eight valuable points. Murphree improved on his third place finish in 2014.
The last individual crown of day one belonged to Mathenge for his 14:29.61 time in the men’s 5,000-meter run. He won by more than five seconds over Lamar’s Alex Dunbar.
Fellow distance specialist Nicholas Guerra also earned points for SFA in the 5,000m, taking seventh place with a time of 15:05.49. On the women’s side, Courtney High (17:24.70) and Brittany Innis (17:39.27) came in sixth and eighth, respectively.
The last running events in which SFA earned points on Monday were the distance medley relays. Taylor Anderson, Valerie Osamar, Katrina Fite and Rana Ryan led the women to a runner-up finish behind Lamar. The group was clocked at 12:01.16 to give the Ladyjacks eight points. Quinlin McGregor, Johnathan Joe, Shawn Goff and Anthony Gallardo finished in sixth for the Lumberjacks in the same event, clocking in at 10:22.01.
The remainder of the points earned by SFA came from the field on day one. La'Tricia Griffin and Jessica Spelling took sixth and seventh in the women’s weight throw to start things off. Griffin posted a 59-10.25 (18.24m) mark while Spelling heaved to a distance of 56-1.75 (17.11m), combining to rake in five points.
Lucas Akins grabbed five team points in the men’s shot put with a 51-5 (15.67m) fourth-place throw.
In the jumps, Trey Darty narrowly missed an individual title in the men’s long jump after launching himself 24-2.25 (7.37m). He ended with the second best jump to secure eight points for his team. DeAndre Burns rounded out the top eight, jumping 22-9 (6.93m) to claim the final team point.
Like Burns, Kayla Brewer snagged the last point-earning spot in the women’s long jump. She recorded a new personal best with a jump of 18-2.50 (5.55m).
The last SFA athlete to garner points for his team on Monday was My'Lik Kerley in the men’s high jump. Kerley surpassed 6-8.25 (2.04m) on his first run but couldn’t overcome the next height (2.07m). He took fourth place overall for five team points.
While several Lumberjacks and Ladyjacks were busy with preliminary races on Monday, the bulk of the running finals will take place on Tuesday beginning at noon. The men’s heptathlon will conclude early in the morning with the 60m hurdles kicking things off at 8:30 a.m. SFA’s Cody Rhodes, the 2014 SLC champion, sits in third place with 2,821 points after four events.
Tuesday’s field events will start at approximately 11:00 a.m. while NCAA record holder Demi Payne will be in action in the women’s pole vault competition starting at 1:00 p.m.
For the first time, the Southland Indoor Track and Field Championships will be streamed live in their entirety on the Southland Conference Digital Network, available via southland.org/watch and the Southland Conference app. Live results of the championships can be found through the championship home page as well as the schedule of events and other important meet information.
SFA fans can also follow the action via Twitter (@SFA_TFXC).
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