BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UT Arlington track and field teams concluded the Sun Belt Indoor Championships with many tremendous performances, including numerous records broken on Tuesday afternoon at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
Jade Bontke stole the show with a pair of gold medals on the day and earned the SBC's Top Scorer for the meet.
The women finished third overall with 82 total points, while the men were fifth overall with 69 total points.
The day got started with a bang as the Mavericks completely took control of the multis. Bontke was absolutely dominant in the Pentathlon, winning four of the five events to cruise to a school record 4,117.
Bontke set a SBC record in her win in the long jump at 5.95. She added wins in the 60 meter hurdles at 8.79, the high jump at 1.78, and the 800 meter at 2:23.99. Her only event she didn't finish first was in the shot put where she placed second at 11.16.
After a strong first day in the Heptathlon that saw him in second,
Lucas Van Klaveren began to make a move to the top spot.
Van Klaveren started things with a huge win in the 60 meter hurdles at 8.21 and then followed that up with a clutch third place finish in the pole vault at 4.67, leaving only the 1000 meter left, while being behind only 40 points.
Van Klaveren put together an incredible run, winning the 1000 at 2:44.36 and getting a huge assist from teammate Jorrdyn Davis as he finished second 2:46.67, just ahead of Texas State's Ben Collerton who came into the race leading the Heptathlon. That boost gave Van Klaveren a three point advantage and the gold medal.
Van Klaveren finished with a Sun Belt and meet record of 5,734, the second highest score all-time and good for sixth in the nation.
All-American
Bryson DeBerry kept the strong morning going with his second straight SBC title in the indoor high jump, going for 2.14, while
Abigail Kelly-Salo capped a brilliant day for field with a win in the pole vault at 3.86.
Similar to last night, UTA closed the meet with another awesome performance in relays, this time in the 4x400 as the quartet of Bontke,
Shelby West,
Tatyana Terrell, and
Vanessa Ugorji broke a school record with a time of 3:43.83 to solidify third placed as a team and earn Bontke the top overall scorer.
UTA saw other great performances that made the medal stand as
Madeleine Rowe ran to a second place finish in the mile with a time of 4:54.70.
Jarvis Miles placed third in the 400 with a time of 47.99 followed shortly by
Jackson Cichon with a third place finish in the 800 with at time of 1:52.88.
Iyana Gray broke a school record in the 200 meter dash with a second place finish of 23.70. She also added a fourth place finish earlier in the day in the 60 with a time of 7.47.
OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
- Jorrdyn Dunn finished eighth in the heptathlon at 4,830.
- Calyha Brown placed sixth in the shot put with a throw of 14.30.
- Marvin Walford placed seventh in the triple jump at 14.77.
- Jose Alfonzo finished eighth in the mile at 4:17.58.
- Robert Griffin finished sixth in the 60 meter dash at 6.91.
- Medric Roberson finished sixth in the 60 meter hurdles at 8.14.
- Tatyana Terrell placed fifth in the 400 with a time of 55.71 and added an eighth place finish in the 200 at 24.79.
- Joel Bengtsson finished sixth in the 200 at 21.55.
- Alfredo Corona placed fourth in the 3000 at 8:25.48.
- The UTA men's 4x400 team placed fourth at 3:20.59.
UTA will look to have numerous performers in the NCAA Championships, which is set for March 11 right back at the Birmingham CrossPlex. The national selections will come out in the coming weeks.
FOLLOW ALONG
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