MOBILE, Ala. – A record-setting decathlon performance, another gold-medal finish, numerous top-5 program marks and several more podium finishes helped UT Arlington make a big move on day two at the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships Friday from South Alabama's Jaguar Track Complex.
 
With still the majority of the final events slated for Saturday's closing day of action, the UTA men (50) hold a one-point lead over Arkansas State (49) for 1st place. Meanwhile, the UTA women are currently in 4th place with 42 points looking to improve upon their highest-ever Sun Belt outdoor finish (3rd in 2017).
 
Friday for the Mavericks started in exceptional form as Lucas Van Klaveren broke a seven-year Sun Belt Outdoor Championship record with 7,322 points to win gold in the decathlon, surpassing the previous record of 7,292 by Ethan Turpen from Arkansas State in 2014.
 
The personal-record setting performance moved Van Klaveren into 2nd on the UTA all-time list. Additionally, the showing propelled the sophomore into the top-25 nationally in the decathlon this year as well. More information about his standout day is included later in this release.
 
OTHER TOP-5 PROGRAM RECORDS
In the shot put, Calyha Brown delivered the 5th-best throw in women's program history at 15.01m (49-03) to win bronze and deliver UTA six points. That mark is also a PR for the sophomore.
 
In the women's 100m hurdles, freshman Krystal Igbo established a PR and also clocked the program's 5th-fastest time in the event at 14.08.
 
3000M STEEPLECHASE
UTA picked up 17 crucial points at the end of the night thanks to a silver-medal performance from Justin Domangue (9:06.98) in the men's 3000m steeplechase and a bronze from Marquentin Barnes (9:10.27) – the first time he ever ran the event. Additionally, Tanner Henderson picked up three points with a time of 9:20.51.

LONG JUMP
Juleen Lewis finished 3rd in the women's long jump, claiming the bronze with a PR leap of 6.05m (19-10 ¼) to score six points for the Mavs.
 
DECATHLON & HEPTATHLON
Van Klaveren opened his day with a victory in the 110m hurdles (14.72), tying a PR and picking up 884 points. Following a 4th-place finish in the discus (38.60m; 126-07) to secure 636 points, Van Klaveren posted his first PR of the day with a 4.70m (15-05) clearance in the pole vault to post a 2nd-place showing and 819 points.
 
In the javelin, Van Klaveren finished 2nd with a throw of 51.70m (169-07) to collect 614 points heading into the final event – the 1500m. The Netherlands native wrapped up his day with a runner-up showing in the 1500m with a season-best time of 5:00.34 to secure the record point total.
 
Jade Bontke began her heptathlon day with a win and a huge PR in the long jump at 5.96m (19-06 ¾) – one foot better than her previous best. She closed her day with a PR in the 800m as well, crossing in a time of 2:24.10 for 769 points. That propelled her to a PR of 5,097 points in the heptathlon, good for 4th in the event and five points for the Mavs.
 
QUALIFIERS

• Joel Bengtsson won his heat and posted the 3rd-fastest time overall in the men's 110m hurdles to advance to Saturday's final.
• Seth Texada also won his heat in the men's 100m and moved on to the Saturday final.
• Both of UTA's women's 800m participants qualified for the final as Madeleine Rowe (2:13.70) won her heat, and Mathilde Ruud (2:15.90) secured the final position by .02 of a second.
• Connor Butterfield posted the best qualifying time in the men's 800m (1:50.38) to lock up a spot in Saturday's final along with teammate Victor Bocanegra (1:53.46).

THIS AND THAT

• Mia Black established a PR in the shot put with a 13.46m (44-02) throw.
• In impressive fashion, Bontke came back after the heptathlon and set a PR in the high jump with a clearance of 1.72m (5-07 ¾) to lock up four points for UTA.
• In the women's 100m hurdles prelims, all three UTA competitors (including Igbo) established PRs in the event: Shelby West (14.46) and Alyssa Hernandez (14.55).
• In the men's 400m prelims, Cedric Williams (50.25) and Sebastian Vidal (51.28) both set PRs.
• Teressia Grant-Corsey (12.07), Sadavia Mosley-Porter (12.45) and Ariel Price (12.59) all clocked PRs in the women's 100m prelims.
• DaVontay Kennedy set a PR in the 100m prelims (10.77).

NEXT ON THE BLOCKS
Field events commence the final day of action at the championships on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. with running events starting at 4 p.m. ESPN+ broadcast coverage will kick off at 4 p.m., and live results will be available all day via Half-Mile Timing.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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