Friday Results
SAN MARCOS, Texas - The 2014 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships got underway on Friday morning and concluded late Friday evening. WKU leads the women's team race with 44 points while South Alabama leads the men's standings with 35 points.
The first event final on Friday was the women's 10,000 meters which was won by Arkansas State's Kristina Aubert. Aubert's time of 34:58.38 was a new SBC Championship and Texas State Complex record. WKU's Linsdey Hinken finished second with a time of 36:10.15 and teammate, Katie Lever, was third.
In the men's 10,000 meters, UT Arlington's Craig Lautenslager claimed the event title by four seconds over South Alabama's Michael Pienaar. WKU freshman, Endalow Takele, finished third. Lautenslager posted a time of 31:16.25.
The first field event final of the day was the women's hammer won by WKU standout Jessica Ramsey. Ramsey's toss of 61.45m (201'7") was a new season best for the senior and moved her up to the top ten on the NCAA East qualifying list.
The day was not without interruption as the women headed into the final event of day one in the heptathlon a severe storm blew through the San Marcos area with wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour causing a lengthy delay of nearly two hours on Friday afternoon. Both the decathlon high jump and heptathlon 200 meters were suspended.
Once the all clear was given, both the decathlon and heptathlon completed the events for day one.
South Alabama's Noelle Jones holds the women's heptathlon lead with a day one total of 3,362 points. UL Lafayette's Kaitlyn Moreau stands in second followed by Texas State's Tina Valenzuela.
UL Lafayette's Harald Bust leads the men's decathlon race through day one with 3,821 points. South Alabama's Garrett Schumacher sits in second with 3,796 points and A-State's Ethan Turpen is in third with 3,792 points.
Another rain delay forced a suspension of the men's hammer as the field headed to the finals. Just after 6 p.m. CT the participants took back to the track to resume the event. USA's Renaldo Frechou claimed the title with a new SBC Championship record toss of 62.63m (205'6"). Frechou's toss came on this third and final attempt in the preliminaries which took place prior to the second rain delay.
A-State's Chris Nicasio was second with a 60.77m (199'4") throw and Frechou's teammate, Adam Patterson, was third in the event.
USA finished one-two in the women's javelin with Leah Hixson taking first and Jones taking second. Hixon's toss of 47.19m (154'10") came on her second attempt while Jones' toss of 45.42m (149') came on her first attempt.
UL Monroe's Mi'Ca Lowe was third in the javelin.
Texas State's Annika Newell took top honors in the women's pole vault with a clearance of 3.94m (12'11"). WKU's Karleigh Parker and A-State's Alexandra Pevtsova tied for second at 3.73m (12'2.75").
WKU's Tomas Guerra won his second consecutive men's javelin title with a toss of 73.37m (240'8") on his second attempt of the evening. His throw moved him into the top ten on the NCAA qualifying list and into the top five on the NCAA East qualifying list. UT Arlington's Ivan Storic placed second with a throw of 65.90m (216'2") and Joey Womack of ULM was third.
Day two begins with the decathlon at 10 a.m. CT followed by the heptathlon at 10:30 a.m. CT. The first field event final is the women's long jump at 2 p.m. CT with the first running event scheduled for 5 p.m. CT.