Day 1 Results | Saturday Heat Sheets | Championship Central
SAN MARCOS, Texas - Day one of the 2018 #SunBeltOTF Championships came to a close on Friday with the running of the men's and women's 10,000-meters. South Alabama raced out to the women's team lead with 51 points on Friday while ULM leads the men's team standings by a narrow two-point margin after picking up 21 points.
Appalachian State is second in the women's team standings with 31 points followed by UTA with 28. Louisiana sits second on the men's side with 19 points and South Alabama is third with 18.
USA earned victories in two events on Friday in the women's hammer and women's javelin. Michaela Preachuk won the hammer after placing fourth last season. The victory was Preachuk's fourth win this season as she tossed the hammer 60.83m (199'6.75") to claim the title. The Jags earned 18 total points in the hammer with first, fifth, sixth and eighth place finishes.
Hanna-Mai Vaikla won the women's javelin with a throw of 46.61m (152'11"). It was also her fourth win this season and a new PR which ranks among the top 35 in the East Preliminary.
USA earned 10 points in the pole vault. Emile Berge looks to repeat her title from 2017 in the women's heptathlon as she is the leader in the event after day one with 3,391 points.
ULM jumped out to the men's team lead with a first place finish in the men's javelin and a runner-up finish in the hammer. Cole McKnight claimed his first Sun Belt javelin title with a new PR of 68.25m (223'11") on his third throw in the first round. Alton Clay was second in the hammer with a toss of 63.29m (207'8"). The Warhawks added two additional points in the final event of the night, the men's 10,000-meters as Victor Kipkirui placed seventh.
Several notable Sun Belt track athletes set themselves up nicely on Friday with preliminary events. Arkansas State's Jaylen Bacon, the Sun Belt leader in the 100-meters, had the fastest qualifier in the 200-meters on Friday with a time of 20.44. His time was three-tenths of a second faster than the next fastest time.
Texas State's Tramesha Hardy, the 2017 200-meter champion, had the second fastest women's qualifying time in the 200 (23.54) as A-State's Caitland Smith blazed to a 23.21 prelim time.
Coastal Carolina's Aynslee Van Graan is in prime position to repeat as the women's 1500-meter champion as she had the top time in the prelims (4:34.13). Van Graan has the second fastest time in the event in Sun Belt history.
UTA's Tori Shelton was the victor in the women's 10,000-meters, finishing the race with a time of 37:39.92 which was eight seconds faster than App State's Samantha Kolor. The Mountaineers earned 19 points in the final women's event on Friday.
A-State's Cristian Ravar Ladislau successfully defended his hammer title. Ladislau put one out to 67.20m (220'6") on his fourth throw of the event, giving him back-to-back hammer titles.
Action continues on day two with the finish of both the heptathlon and the decathlon. The decathlon begins at 9:00 a.m. CT and the hep at 9:30 a.m. CT. Field event finals begin at 12:00 p.m. CT with the women's long jump. The running preliminaries begin at 6:30 p.m. CT.
ESPN3 will go live at 6:30 p.m. (CT) with Brant Freeman and Jonathan Hernandez back to call the action.
Men’s Day 1 Team Results
1. ULM - 21 pts; 2. Louisiana - 19 pts; 3. South Alabama - 18 pts; 4. Troy - 16 pts; 5. UT Arlington - 14 pts; 6. Texas State - 12 pts; 7. Arkansas State - 10 pts; 8. Coastal Carolina - 6 pts; 9. Appalachian State - 1 pts
Women’s Day 1 Team Results
1. South Alabama - 51 pts; 2. Appalachian State - 31 pts; 3. UT Arlington - 28 pts; 4. Arkansas State - 18 pts; 5. Georgia State - 10 pts; 5. Troy - 10 pts; 7. Coastal Carolina - 7 pts; 8. ULM - 1 pts