NACOGDOCHES, Texas – UT Arlington waited patiently after heavy rains turned the throwing fields at Homer Bryce Stadium into a community pool, forcing the postponement of the women's and men's hammer throw and the delay of the decathlon and heptathlon on the opening day of the 2023 WAC Outdoor Championships.
In the women's pole vault,
Simona Cabella earned the Mavericks their podium trip of the championships. The sophomore from Genova, Italy finished 3rd with a collegiate personal best vault of 3.92-meters.
In the men's decathlon,
Lucas Van Klaveren currently sits 1st overall with 3887 points through five of the ten events. He finished 2nd in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.97, 1st in the long jump with a mark of 6.79-meters, 3rd in the shot put with a throw of 13.43-meters, 4th in the high jump with a height of 1.87-meters and 1st in the 400-meter dash clocking in at 48.70.
The league leader in the decathlon coming into the championships,
Brady Shadrick is 2nd overall halfway through the event with 3716 points. Shadrick came in 6th in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.12, 5th in the long jump with a jump of 6.54-meters, 4th in the shot put with a toss of 13.39-meters, 2nd in the high jump with a mark of 1.90-meters and 10th in the 400-meter dash with a run of 50.98.
Freshmen
Levi Bontke currently is 7th overall with 3410 points and his twin brother
Luke Bontke sits in 12th with 3255 points.
Shadrick also competed in the men's javelin throw, finishing 5th overall with a throw of 56.32-meters to earn four points for the Mavs on the men's side.
Through four out of seven events in the women's heptathlon
McKinley Novacek is currently 12th with 2592 points while
Glodis Thuridardottir comes in at 13th overall with 2176 points.
In the women's 200-meter dash prelims,
Madison Pippins sits 2nd overall after qualifying for the finals with a run of 23.72.
Tatyana Terrell also qualified with a time of 23.86 to head into the finals 4th overall.
Adeyemi Talabi just missed qualifying, coming in 9th with a time of 24.11.
Mikeya Washington came in 23rd with a time of 24.79 and
Krystal Igbo ran 25.16 to finish 33rd overall.
Khalid Mendez qualified for the finals in the men's 200-meter dash with a time of 21.14. Mendez took the top spot in the fourth heat to qualify and goes into the finals 5th overall.
Jarvis Miles finished 24th overall with a time of 21.67 while
Jayden Blakey finished 36th with a time of 22.20 and
Nolan Walker with a time of 22.49 came in 39th.
Zaire Moore and
Shelby West both qualified for the finals in the women's 400-meter hurdles. In the prelims, Moore finished 5th with a time of 1:00.91 while West came in 7th with a run of 1:01.17.
In the men's 1500-meter run preliminaries, Alfredo Corona qualified for the finals with a time of 3:49.35 to finish 10th in the third heat. Jeriel Algarin Marquez finished 14th, just missing qualifying for the finals, with a mark of 3:52.29.
Jacob Ye came in 28th with a time of 4:01.81.
Lauren Walls-Potillo narrowly missed qualifying for the finals, finish the prelim round with a time of 4:38.28 for 14th overall.
Scarlett Johnson came in 29th with a time of 4:53.26.
In the prelims for the men's 400-meter hurdles,
Devien Davis finished 14th with a time of 56.54.
The women's 10,000-meter run rounded out day one of the championships, with
Isabel Borrego finishing 6th overall and earning three points for the Mavs on the women's side.
Day two will get started on Friday, May 12, at 9:30 a.m. with the 110-meter hurdles. Due to weather, all times are tentative and will be adjusted accordingly if delays occur.
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