SFA Women Finish as Runners-Up, Men Take Third at 2018 Southland Conference Outdoor Championship

Friday, May 4

San Antonio, Texas

ALL DAY

Stephen F. Austin

SLC Outdoor Championships

SFA Women Finish as Runners-Up, Men Take Third at 2018 Southland Conference Outdoor Championship

5/6/2018 10:17:00 PM | Track & Field

Three SFA athletes claim individual championships, two relays break school records at conference meet

By: Kevin Meyer | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

Meet Results Page | Results (PDF)

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – A weekend of strong performances -- including three individual championships and two school records being broken—prefaced a runners-up finish for the Ladyjacks and a third-place finish for the Lumberjacks at the 2018 Southland Conference Outdoor Championships. The three-day meet took place in San Antonio, Texas amidst weather alterations and scorching heat, as well as encompassing competition at three different sites.

The Ladyjacks secured a second place finish with 117 points, six ahead of third-place Northwestern State. Abilene Christian (91.0) and host Incarnate Word (81.5) rounded out the top five on the women's side. The SFA men placed third with 104 points, thirteen behind Abilene Christian (117.0). Northwestern State (98.0) and McNeese (78.0) rounded out the top five on the men's side.

Three SFA athletes performed better than any other competitor in their events in taking home individual champion honors. The first of these came via the women's 3000m steeplechase, where Brittany Innis seized the top spot with a time of 10:37.67 and scoring ten points for SFA. Coming in behind Innis in second was teammate Taryn Surratt, who netted eight more points for the 'Jacks with a time of 10:46.31, a personal best that earned her second place. Innis also scored for the Ladyjacks in the 5000m run, taking sixth with a time of 17:52.01, while Surratt finished ninth with a mark of 18:25.75.

Pole vaulter Kaylee Bizzell leapt to a groundbreaking new personal best and captured her second individual championship in the Southland this season, having been named the indoor champion back in February as well. The Golden, Texas native cleared a height of 4.15m (13-07.25) in the event, two bars ahead of the second-place finisher. Teammate Dakota Mayr also placed for the Ladyjacks in the event, coming in sixth with a mark of 3.65m (11-11.75) and scoring three points for SFA.

The third individual champion was senior Kerry Gleason, who ran to a first-place finish in the 400m hurdles with a time 51.87. Gleason also earned a runner-up finish in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.27, and ran the anchor leg of SFA's second-place 4x400 relay, resulting in Gleason being responsible for 26 points for the 'Jacks. Gleason's 400m mark also set a new stadium record in the event for Benson Stadium, besting his own record set one day prior in the preliminaries.

In addition to the three individual champions, the 4x100 relays for both the men and the women broke the school record times in the event. For the men, their time of 39.55 broke their previous season-high of 39.71, a mark that also broke the school record, and led them to a second-place finish. The running order for that relay consisted of Aaron Piper, Jared Love, Tedrick Hawkins and Khalil Lacy. Lacy also ran the 100m dash, placing sixth with a mark of 10.56, while Tedrick Hawkins also took sixth in the 200m dash, racing to a time of 21.08. On the women's side, the 4x100 team of Dominique Jackson, Camille Singleton, Imani Nave and Aaliyah Teel ran to a mark of 45.29 and a runners-up finish. That bested the previous mark of 45.37, set in 2012.

Notching a pair of top-three finishes for the Ladyjacks was Imani Nave, who took second in the 400m dash with a personal best time of 54.11, and third in the 200m dash with a time of 23.74. Nave also ran a leg of the record-setting 4x100 relay and the opening leg of the 4x400 relay.

Kelsey Ramirez posted another successful showing in the 1500m race, notching a runner-up finish with a time of 4:33.82. The LaPorte, Texas native also ran in the 5000m run, coming in 13^th with a mark of 18:44.36. Running alongside Ramirez in the 5000m was Samantha Ottman, who finished 12^th with a time of 18:43.12. Ottman notched SFA's first points of the meet on Friday night in the 10000m, earning five points with her fourth-place finish at 37:28.30.

In the men's 1500m run, Quinlin McGregor placed sixth with a mark of 3:55.49. Erick Rotich (15:17.69) and Titus Kiplagat (15:19.39) would place fifth and seventh, respectively, in the 5000m run.

Dominique Jackson also found success on the day, racing to a second-place finish in the 400m hurdles with a time of 59.67. Jackson also ran a leg of the school-record setting 4x100 relay. Also running a leg of the 4x100 and 4x400 relays and placing sixth in the 200m dash (24.12) was Aaliyah Teel.

In the 800m run, Drake Murphy paced SFA with a second place finish and time of 1:49.62 to score eight points, while also running a leg of the runners-up 4x400 relay. On the women's side, LaSean Davis would come in fifth with a time of 2:11.96, followed by Shania Ford in sixth (2:13.99) and Madison Compass in eighth (2:20.96).

In the men's discus, a pair of Lumberjacks would score in the event, as Kevin Steward took sixth with a mark of 52.78m (173-02) and Trenton Bridges came in eighth at 51.84m (170-01). Steward would also take sixth in the shot put, reaching a distance of 17.04m (55-11.00).

The women's high jump featured two SFA scorers, as Mahlon Dawson and Kadejah Wilson each cleared a height of 1.67m (5-05.75) in the event to finish fourth and fifth, respectively, and give the Ladyjacks a total of nine points. In the men's javelin, freshman Cord Neal put on an exemplary performance, hurling a personal best distance of 62.66m (205-07) to take second overall and score eight points for SFA.

In the women's javelin on Saturday, Caitlin Lennon would score in the eighth spot for the Ladyjacks, reaching a distance of 40.29m (132-02) on her final attempt of the event. Lennon also scored in the women's heptathlon that concluded on Sunday, ending in sixth with a combined score of 4981. Teammate Sammi Brashears also scored in the heptathlon, tallying 4780 points to finish eighth overall. Both scores marked new personal bests for the pair of Ladyjacks. In the men's decathlon, Conner Wilbur placed fourth with a score of 6466, while Bradley Beaty came in sixth with a new personal best total of 6311 and Tanner Parks in eighth, with 6170.

-SFA-