BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UT Arlington track and field team put together an outstanding first day at the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships capped by a thrilling victory in the Men's Distance Relay on Friday afternoon at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
"We exceeded the expectations quite a bit, especially on the men's side," said 33-time Coach of the Year
John Sauerhage. "We qualified for more finals than we forecasted."
The quartet put together an outstanding run, finishing at 10:07.06 to overtake Louisiana for the victory.
Jackson Cichon led things off with 3:06.25 leg in the 1200 followed by a 49.97 by
Adam Herrera in the 400.
Zion Smith put together a 1:55.28 in the 800 and handed off the
Marquentin Barnes for the mile.
Barnes sat in third place when receiving the baton in the final leg and had already run a mile prelim earlier in the day. However, Barnes ran a controlled race and found his opening in the last 100 meters, rolling past both Arkansas State and Louisiana to lead UTA to an unbelievable victory.
"Marquentin anchor on the DMR was really nice," said Sauerhage. "He really fired the team up going into tomorrow and gave us the boost to make a run at a high team finish."
It was one of many excellent performances on the day.
Joel Bengtsson did it again in the 60 meter hurdles as he made his mark in the prelims, running a 7.81 to smash the previous Sun Belt Conference record of 7.93. Bengtsson's time won his heat and will be the top time going into the final tomorrow afternoon. Bengtsson also qualified for the 200 meter final with the fifth fastest time at 21.58. Medric Robinson added an eighth place run in the 60 hurdles and qualified for tomorrow's final.
Jarvis Miles put together an excellent day of his own, placing third in prelims in the 400 at 48.94. He later would qualify for the 200 final as well with the eighth fastest time at 21.74
Robert Griffin earned a top performance in the 60 meter, winning his heat at 6.83 and earning the third best time going into the final tomorrow. Barnes placed third in the mile earlier in the day with a time of 4:18.24, qualifying for the final tomorrow.
Cichon qualified for the finals in the 800, placing sixth at 1:54.54.
All-American
Bryson DeBerry placed fifth in the long jump at 7.27 as he carries momentum into his big event, the high jump, tomorrow afternoon.
Lucas Van Klaveren competed in the first half of Heptathlon on Friday morning. He set a Sun Belt record in the long jump in the event at 7.09, winning the event. He added a pair of third place finishes in the shot put and the high jump as well as a fourth place finish in the 60 meter dash.
On the women's side,
Jade Bontke took home bronze in the high jump at 1.79, the highest individual finish of the day.
Tatyana Terrell qualified for two finals as she placed sixth in the prelims in both the 200 and the 400. She finished with a time of 24.26 in the 200 and 56.16 in the 400.
Iyana Gray added a pair of qualifying runs including a 7.52 in the 60, good for sixth, and a 24.26, good for fifth, in the 200.
A pair of distance runners both qualified in the mile as
Anne Arntsen and
Madeleine Rowe placed fourth and fifth overall in their prelims.
Charlotte Murphy palced fifth in the 5000 meter with a time of 17:56.82.
Abigail Flores put together an impressive performance on the field side, finishing fifth in the weight throw at 17.72.
"We had to scratch and claw for everything for everything today," added Sauerhage. "We can't wait for tomorrow."
The women currently sit in fourth with 22 points, while the men sit in fifth with 14 points with still many events to come.
The teams return to action tomorrow as 30 events are on tap throughout the day. The action begins at 9 a.m. inside the Birmingham CrossPlex.
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