Bobcat Women Win SBC Indoor Championships, Men Finish Second
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Texas State women’s track and field team put together a dominating performance to win the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships with 166 points, the most ever recorded by the women’s squad at a conference championship.
Meanwhile, the men fell just shy of repeating as conference champions, putting together a runner-up finish to UTA while recording big performances throughout the meet.
“We are extremely proud of our student-athletes and what we were able to accomplish over the last few days,” said Jody Stewart, Director of Track & Field/Cross Country. “Our women did a great job of stepping up and meeting the challenge.
The men performed equally well, keeping in mind we graduated 10 last year. We’re young and will continue to get better.”
“Special thanks to Dr. Larry Teis, Lacy Needham, Don Coryell and our entire athletic administration for their continued support!”
Tramesha Hardy was the standout at the meet to earn Women’s Top Meet Scorer with 32.5 points. She walked out of the Birmingham CrossPlex with four gold medals.
The sophomore captured the 60m (7.46), 200m (23.69) and 400m (53.84) with personal best times in the 60m and 400m, while all three marks rank in the top 10 in school history.
Her fourth gold came in the 4x400m relay where she ran the second leg and was joined by Sydni Willis, DeAijha Hicks-Boyce and Dawnshae Evans.
Also scoring in three events was Devina Schneider. The redshirt freshman won the mile run despite not leading until the final step.
She crossed the finish line in a school-record time of 4:53.47, one-hundredth of a second ahead of UTA’s Astrid Rosvall. Schneider won the silver with a personal best time and second fastest in school history of 9:54.91 in the 3000m.
The Bellaire, Texas native ended her time in Birmingham with a sixth-place finish in the 5000m in 17:52.42 that ranks 10th in school history.
The women’s 60m hurdles saw the Bobcats record a clean sweep with Antonisha Stewart claiming the gold in 8.32 to break her own school record that she reset in the preliminary heats on Monday.
Kaylee Krenek crossed the line in 8.46 to tie her personal best in the event to earn the silver. Winning the bronze in 8.64 was Kylah Smith. Also picking up points in the event was Abby Hani with a fifth place finish.
Chelsie Decoud won her third straight indoor gold medal in the high jump, clearing 1.79m (5-10.5) on two attempts.
She beat out Darragh May of Arkansas State, who also cleared the height but needed all three attempts to do so. Also earning points in the event was Courtney Johnson and Raquel Robinson, both tying for sixth place.
Julie Lange won the silver in the shot put with a career-best distance of 16.05m (52-8). She began the championships by earning Texas State’s first medal in the women’s weight throw.
The Castroville, Texas native uncorked a school record toss of 19.74m (64-9.25) to take home the bronze medal.
Hani picked up unleased a personal best leap of 6.06m (19-10.75) in the long jump on her fourth and fifth attempts in the long jump to win the silver on Monday. Tuesday saw the senior compete in the pentathlon and earn 3,620 points to finish fourth.
Her best performance came in the 60m hurdles (8.66) and long jump (6.15m; 20-2.25) to set a new SBC Championship mark. Smith matched Hani’s performance in the 60m hurdles on her way to a sixth in the pentathlon.
Also winning an individual medal for the women’s squad was Mylana Hearn in the triple jump. She posted a personal-best distance of 12.79m (41-11.5) on her third attempt. The leap is the sixth best in school history as well.
The distance medley relay of Nikki Sanchez, Syndi Willis, Esther Oytunde and Madilyn King combined for a time of 11:52.20 to come home with the silver and the second fastest time in program history.
Others earning points for the Bobcats on the way to the team title were Evans (400m; 5th), Hicks-Boyce (200m, 5th), Krenek (60m; 4th), Oyetunde (800m, 8th) and Sanchez (Mile; 6th).
The men’s team ended the conference meet with five event champions, all coming on the final day of competition.
The most exciting came in the 400m where Texas State had five of the eight runners in the finals. Both De’Marcus Porter and Lincoln Warren raced each other to the line in the second heat of the finals.
The result came down to a photo finish that saw the duo both cross the finish line in 47.804 to share the gold medal. Helping the Bobcats to a clean sweep in the event was Kelson Pierre in 47.95 for third.
Also scoring points were Dexter Lee and Chris Green in fifth and eighth, respectively. Overall, the 400m run accounted for 29 of the team’s points.
Capturing the third gold for the men was T’Mond Johnson in the shot put. The sophomore was leading heading into the final throw and saved his best for last. He unleashed a personal-best toss of 18.23m (59-9.75) that ranks third in program history to seal his victory.
In the 5000m, Joseph Meade trailed for most of the race behind UTA’s Michael Guerrero. The Round Rock, Texas native timed his race perfectly as passed Guerrero on the final lap thanks a final lap time of 28.8.
Overall, Meade posted a gold medal winning time of 14:30.47 to set a new personal best and the second-fastest mark in school history. Joseph Pena earned points for Texas State as well with a seventh-place finish in the event.
The men’s 4x400m relay team of Tyrone Jackson, Lee, Pierre and Warren capped off the meet by running away with the title. The squad got off to a blistering start and never trailed after the first lap on the 200m track on their way to a 3:12.71 finish, over three seconds ahead of second place.
Lee led a pack of Bobcats in the 200m with a fourth place finish in a personal best time of 21.60. He was followed by Phillip Green and Porter in fifth and sixth, respectively. In the prelims of the event, Green (21.54) and Porter (21.38) both posted career best times with Porter just missing tying the school record.
Cody Schulz earned a spot on the medal stand with a third place finish in the 60m finals in 6.77 and Porter finish seventh to earn two team points. During the preliminary heats, Porter broke his own school record with a time of 6.66. Schulz also ran a personal best of 6.72 in the prelims to tie for the second fastest mark every by a Bobcat.
Also earning points on Tuesday on the track were Noe Belmares, Jr. and Jackson in the 800m. Jackson finished fifth and Belmares rounded out the field of eight.
In the triple jump, Alvin Chikaeze leapt a season best 15.09m (49-6.25) to claim fourth while Michael Madu jumped 14.81m (48-7.25) for a sixth place finish.
Both Ben Kjeldsen and Ben Collerton ended up in a tie for fifth in the heptathlon with 4,903 points, the most by Bobcats in the event in three years.
On day one of competition, Madu uncorked a persona best distance of 7.10m (23-3.5) to place fourth in the long jump. Schulz also earned the team a point with an eight place finish.
Meade (8:23.62) and Logan Pittdman (8:29.46) finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 3000m with both recording top 10 times in program history. The men’s DMR team of Gilson Umunnakwe, Kyle Denomme, Belmares and Jackson completed the race in 10:11.26 to claim fourth with the fifth-best time in school history.
For the latest on Texas State track and field, visit the official website of Texas State Athletics at www.txstatebobcats.com and follow the team on Twitter at @TxStateTrack.
Results: https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/txstate.sidearmsports.com/documents/2017/2/21/sbc_indoor_complete_results.pdf
SBC Women’s Recap Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDjg0fakytE
