Complete Final Results
BIRMINGHAM - The 2017 Sun Belt Indoor Track & Field Championships concluded with Texas State running away with the women's title, while UTA claimed its second overall men's championship.
The 166 points scored by the Bobcats was the third highest total by a women's championship team in Sun Belt history.
Texas State's Tramesha Hardy was the women's top meet scorer as the sophomore tallied 32.5 points over the two days and four gold medals. She won the 60-meter dash early on Tuesday, then followed that up with a win in the 400-meters. She then claimed the 200-meters before running the second leg on the winning 4x400-meter relay.
Hardy's 200-meter win was the second consecutive victory in the event and it was also the second consecutive win for the 4x400-meter relay team for the Bobcats.
UTA's Joel Duren was the men's top meet scorer. He posted wins in both the 3,000-meters on Monday and then the mile on Tuesday.
In addition to Hardy's 32.5 points and three individual wins, the Bobcats picked up victories from several other student-athletes at the championship. Devina Schneider earned her second medal of the event as she laid claim to the mile with a time of 4:53.47. She was second in the 3,000-meters on Monday evening. All told Schneider ammassed 21 points for the Bobcats.
Antonisha Stewart won her second consecutive 60-meter hurdles title with a time of 8.32 as the Bobcats earned 28 points in the event. Kaylee Krenek was second and Kylah Smith was third for the Bobcats. Senior Abby Hani scored 17 points for Texas State with a second place finish in the long jump, a fourth-place finish in the pentathlon and a fifth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles.
Two Sun Belt women's championship records fell on Tuesday as Arkansas State's Erin Farmer scored a huge throw in the shot put with a toss of 16.81m (55'2"), resetting the record that was set a season ago. Farmer owns the current Sun Belt record overall with a toss set on Jan. 20 of this year.
UTA's Helen Falda, a freshman, broke a five-year old record in the pole vault as she cleared 4.17m (13'8.25") to claim her first indoor title. She reset the record set back in 2011 by just two centimeters.
UTA's men tallied 133.5 points, the teams' second-most points in a championship. This was UTA's first title since 2014. The Mavericks have not finished lower than second place in a Sun Belt indoor track and field championship.
Duren was the leader for the Mavericks picking up two victories, adding 20 points to the UTA point total. His teammate, Erik Martinsson, added 16.5 points to the Mavericks score as he claimed gold in the 800-meters with a time of 1:51.41, just shy of a new meet record. Martinsson was also fourth in the 400-meters.
Michael Guerrero picked up two second-places finishes for UTA as he was second in both long-distance races, the 3,000- and 5,000-meters. Tobi Fawehinmi avenged a third-place finish in the triple jump as he claimed gold in 2017. His leap of 15.52m (50'11") was a half-inch off his career-best in the event.
Few records were broken in the men's two-day event but there were several fantastic performances and multiple back-to-back event winners.
A-State's Jamil Peeples cruised to a second-consecutive 60-meter hurdles title with a time of 7.95. Peeples reset the Sun Belt meet record in the preliminaries with a time of 7.94.
Texas State's T'Mond Johnson earned the shot put title on his sixth and final throw of competition. The 18.23m (59'9.75") toss was a new career-best for the sophomore and gave him his first career shot put title indoors. Johnson was sixth in the event in 2016.
USA's Rafael Scott won the highly contested 60-meter dash, just crossing the line in one-hundredth of a second fastest than A-State's Jaylen Bacon. Scott's time was 6.67 while Bacon ran 6.68. Hanoj Carter of Louisiana was fifth in the 60-meters but came back to win the men's 200-meters with a time of 21.00. Bacon finished second in the 200-meters.
The 2017 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships will be held in College Station, Texas, on March 10-11. Student-athletes now await the final national performance lists next week to see who will qualify for the annual NCAA event.
Women's Final Team Standings
1. Texas State - 166
2. UTA - 99
3. Appalachian State - 98
4. South Alabama - 73.5
5. Arkansas State - 70
6. Georgia State - 48
7. Georgia Southern - 25
8. Coastal Carolina - 24.5
9. Troy - 22
10. Little Rock - 20
11. Louisiana - 14
12. ULM - 3
Top Meet Scorer: Tramesha Hardy, Texas State (32.5 points)
Men's Final Team Standings
1. UTA - 133.5
2. Texas State - 119
3. Louisiana - 103.5
4. Arkansas State - 102.5
5. South Alabama - 79
6. Appalachian State - 70.5
7. ULM - 29
8. Little Rock - 25
Top Meet Scorer: Joel Duren, UTA (20 points)