ARLINGTON, Texas – The 2017 Sun Belt Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held at UTA’s Maverick Stadium as the Mavericks will host the three-day event starting on Friday, May 12 and continuing through Sunday, May 14.
Action begins on Friday with the first day of the decathlon at 9 a.m. CT with the first day of the women’s heptathlon set to begin at 9:30 a.m. CT. The finals of the women’s hammer throw will start at 10 a.m. CT with finals also scheduled in the men’s hammer throw (12:30 p.m. CT), women’s javelin (3 p.m. CT), men’s javelin (5:30 p.m. CT), women’s pole vault (5:30 p.m. CT), women’s 10,000-meter run (8:30 p.m. CT) and men’s 10,000-meter run (9:15 p.m. CT).
Saturday’s action starts at 9 a.m. CT with the conclusion of the decathlon followed by the final day of the women’s heptathlon at 9:30 a.m. CT. Field events will begin at 12:30 p.m. CT with preliminaries in running events set to begin at 5 p.m. CT.
The final day of the three-day event will start at 10 a.m. CT with the finals in the men’s discus and concluding with the men’s 4x400-meter relay at 8 p.m. CT. An awards ceremony for the presentation of the team trophy for both men and women will be presented following the relay.
Arkansas State claimed the 2016 men's outdoor track and field titles, claiming the trophy with 149.5 points. South Alabama won the women's team title, besting Arkansas State with by three points (132-129).
The Maverick men will be looking to win their second Sun Belt Triple Crown, as the Mavericks have won titles in cross country and indoor track & field earlier this year. The Jaguars are seeking back-to-back titles.
Individually, several student-athletes stand out amongst the rest of the field as quite a few champions from last year's meet return in hopes of capturing the crown once again.
Georgia State’s LaPorscha Wells will be seeking a third consecutive women’s hammer title. She enters the championship with the best mark in the Sun Belt, 65.39m (214’6”), and the seventh-best mark in the NCAA.
Her teammate, Ravin Gilbert, returns for her senior season as the looks to take home top honors in the 100- and 200-meter races. She was the runner-up in both events last season.
Appalachian State’s Tristan Van Ord returns to defend her distance double from last year. Van Ord won both the 5,000- and the 10,000-meter races. She will have some competition from Coastal Carolina’s Annie Bothma, the 5k champion from cross country and the indoor track and field championships. Van Ord also won the distance double in 2015.
Arkansas State’s Erin Farmer will be looking to win back-to-back women’s shot put titles. She comes into the meet with the third best throw in the NCAA and Sun Belt best, 18.11m (59’5”).
On the men's side the pole vault will once again be a highly competitive event at the championship. South Alabama's Sean Collins and Michael Carr of the Red Wolves, both sophomores, will battle it out as both have cleared 17' with USA's Collins coming in with the best mark at 17’8.5”. Collins was the 2016 champion.
A-State’s Jaylen Bacon is back to defend his 100/200-meter double after claiming both races last year. He owns the top time in both events this season with a 10.17 in the 100 and 20.54 in the 200.
App’s Ryan Hastings, a runner-up in the 800-meters, has the top time in the event in the Sun Belt as he hopes to claim the title in 2017.
UTA’s Michael Guerrero was the runner-up in the men’s 5,000-meters and finished fourth in the 10,000-meters but has the top time in 10k (29:45.02) and second-fastest in the league in the 5k (14:21.86).
Tiaan Steenkamp of A-State will be looking for his first high jump outdoor title. The junior finished tied with UTA’s Roland Sales a year ago but lost the title on misses. He is one of two Sun Belt high jumpers to clear the seven-foot mark this season. Steenkamp has the highest clearance at 7’0.5” while Louisiana’s Damon Guidry cleared 7’0.25”.
Guidry’s teammate Bartul Basic ranks 19th in the NCAA in the men’s javelin and first in the Sun Belt with a mark of 70.58m (231’7”). He was the 2016 champion in the event.
Live results will be available at the following link - CLICK HERE.