May 11, 2008
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - - Wade Hayes and Idilio Campos joined long jumper Quinchun Carey and high jumper Andrew Duncan III in the Southland Conference winner's circle Sunday to lift the Mavericks to a third-place finish at the 2008 Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Huntsville.
Maverick sprinter Jasmine Walls was the 2008 Outstanding Female after winning two conference titles and running on two UTA relays teams.
Hayes had a vault of 17 feet, ¾ inch for the conference title while Campos beat his competition with a 1:51.28 in the 800 meters. Duncan III also turned in a regional-qualifying distance in the triple jump on Sunday to go with his high jump title a day earlier. Walls became a two-time Southland Conference champ with victories in the 100 meters and 200 meters for the UTA women.
In the final overall men's standings, UTSA won the 2008 men's championship with a score 138.5. The Mavericks tallied 106.
The Mavericks women finished sixth overall with 48 points, while Sam Houston State won the conference title with 175.5.
"We had a good meet, it's just that they were a little better," UTA coach John Sauerhage said about his men's team. "I don't remember the last time we had four individual conference champions, so I'm very happy about that."
Walls, the super sophomore from Pearland, led the UTA women with a first-place time of 11.57 in the 100 meters, and followed with a 23.23 in the 200 meters. Sophomore Antonia Hopkins finished third in the 400 meters with a 55.08.
"I'm still shocked," Walls said. "I came in with a different mentality than last year; I was going for the win in both events, but I didn't actually think I could do it. It feels pretty good. I knew I had done the preparation before coming here, but going out and winning is still hard when you get to the conference meet."
UTA had several outstanding finishes, but it wasn't enough to overtake UTSA or Southeastern Louisiana. Duncan III had a season-best triple jump of 50 feet, 4.5 inches. The mark improves a jump earlier this year when he posted a regional qualifying distance of 50 feet.
The pole vault came up huge for UTA. Besides the first-place mark by Wade Hayes, teammate Jared Tuel vaulted 16 feet, ¾ inch for third place, and Cory Carswell took eighth with a vault of 15-1.
The Mavericks 4x100-meter relay team of Cordero Gray, Bayron Majors, Carey and Jarid Vaughan had a season-best 40.36, improving on a regional-qualifying time and good enough for second place. Tim Thompson turned in his best performance of the season with a 14.33 in the 110 hurdles. His third-place finish was important as the Mavericks tallied points heading into the final few events of the night. Thomson's time was narrowly off the regional qualifying time of 14.30.
Eddie Beckwith and Takeshi Fujiwara finished fourth and sixth, respectively in the 400 meters.
