Stephen F. Austin
SLC Outdoor Championships
Rhodes Win Highlights Day Two of SLC Meet
5/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Day Two Results
HAMMOND, La. -- In a day filled with big personal records, top marks in the track prelims and solid performances in the field events, senior Cody Rhodes topped the list of highlights for the Stephen F. Austin track and field teams on Saturday at the 2015 Southland Conference Outdoor Championships.
For the first time in his decorated career, Rhodes surpassed 7,000 points in the men's decathlon -- officially 7,061 -- to win his second straight SLC crown and give SFA its only champion of day two. He closed strong, winning the javelin throw and collecting 724 points with a decathlon javelin PR. Holding the lead heading into the final of 10 events, Rhodes left no doubt with the third-best 1,500m time (4:43.58) among the 15-man field.
Hunter Key scaled the medal stand with Rhodes, taking third in the decathlon. The sophomore posted a two-day total of 6,715 points, also closing strong in the javelin and 1,500m.
The two decathletes weren't done after 10 events, however, as both competed in the men's open javelin competition. The duo, along with Lucas Akins and Hunter Hopkins, placed in the top eight of the 19-man field to make up half of the point earners. The Lumberjacks fit into the 4-7 spots with Hopkins, Akins, Rhodes and Key combining to claim 14 points.
For the multi-event women, Madeline Kaufmann and Laniya Taylor represented the Ladyjacks in the top eight, going sixth and seventh respectively. The pair had a photo finish in the 800-meter run for first place to close the day. Kaufmann, who also took in points for the Ladyjacks on Friday in the pole vault, used multiple PRs to post a career-best total of 4,692 points. Taylor ended the weekend with 4,495.
Akins was also busy on Saturday, passing on his last throw of the javelin to enter into the shot put field starting on the opposite end of the infield. Like in the javelin, Akins grabbed fifth in the shot put final with a top throw of 50-7.25 (15.42m).
Jessica Spelling led the Ladyjack throwers in the shot put, giving her team five points with a fourth place effort out of 22 women. She launched a throw measured at 48-5.5 (14.77m).
SFA's horizontal jumpers also had a good day in the triple jump. Freshman Taylor Terry's fourth place finish out of 26 competitors might be the biggest surprise for the Ladyjacks so far in the SLC meet. She jumped nearly two feet longer than her previous PR, officially notching a 39-2.25 (11.94m) leap. Terry ranked 12th in the SLC entering the weekend. Trey Darty finished sixth on the men's side after jumping 47-11 (14.60m).
In the last finals of day two, the SFA 3,000-meter steeplechase participants filled the top eight with plenty of purple. School record holder Brittany Innis led the way, breaking her own program-best mark to place second out of 15. The new SFA standard of 10:43.02 comes after Innis already set the school's best mark twice earlier this season. She is just a freshman.
Katrina Fite, arguably the most graceful water jumper in the 3,000m steeple, took fourth for the Ladyjacks with a time of 10:52.87.
On the men's side, freshman Larry Deramus paced the SFA group in 9:26.84 while Josh Torres was clocked at 9:39.10. The duo took fifth and eighth, respectively.
The bulk of the running events kicked off on Saturday as well, with seven different prelims for both the men and women being held in the afternoon. Numerous SFA student-athletes punched their tickets to Sunday's finals. For a complete list of Lumberjack and Ladyjack qualifiers, click here.
The Lumberjacks and Ladyjacks will look to make a strong push on Sunday to claim two team titles. After two days, the men are in second place with the women sitting third in the team standings.
-SFA-
