MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Sophomore MeLyn Thompson won the shot put for the second straight year and freshman Festus Chemaoi was victorious in the final event of the night, the 3000-meter steeplechase, while sophomores Brittany Cox and Sarah Nambawa and junior Carl Morgan all placed second in field events, leading Middle Tennessee's track teams on Saturday at the Sun Belt Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Denton, Texas.
Both of Middle Tennessee's teams stand second heading into the final day of competition. The Blue Raider men have 43 points and are one point behind Arkansas State, while the women have 46 points and trail leader Western Kentucky by just seven points (full standings at the bottom of the page).
Thompson posted an NCAA regional qualifying mark of 47-11.75 in winning the shot put and Cox was right behind with her own NCAA regional mark of 47-8.
Chemaoi beat a stacked field in the steeplechase with a time of 9:40.33, while sophomore Julius Kirui placed third in the event in 9:48.24.
Nambawa posted an NCAA regional qualifying and personal-best mark in the long jump, finishing second with a mark of 20-5.25, while freshman Kortney Thurman placed fourth with a mark of 19-4.
Carl Morgan finished second in the long jump with a personal-best mark of 25-8, while brother and senior Carlos Morgan placed third in the event with a season-best mark of 24-11.75.
"We really had an almost perfect day. Everything really fell about as well as it could have all the way around," head coach Dean Hayes said. "We put ourselves in position to challenge for both titles and I'm really happy with what they've done. I couldn't ask anymore."
The Blue Raider men qualified seven runners for Sunday's event finals and the women posted six event qualifiers.
Sophomore DeRay Sloss posted an NCAA regional time of 14.29 in the 110-meter hurdles and then had the best qualifying mark in the 400-meter hurdles in 53.59. Sophomore Freddie Rankin also made the finals in the 400 hurdles in 54.58.
Junior Samuel Adade finished with the second-best mark in the 100-meters in 10.36 and advanced to the finals of the 200-meters in 21.29. Chemaoi and freshman David Emery both made the 800-meter finals with times of 1:55.77 and 1:56.15, respectively.
For the women, Nambawa made the finals in the 400-meters in 55.41, while senior Antranette Stringer and junior Tenesha Hill both advanced in the 100 with season-best marks of 11.63 and 11.79, respectively. Stringer also made the finals in the 200 in 24.25.
Sophomore Zamzam Sangau moved into the 800 finals with a time of 2:16.73 and senior Marjorie Gombert also made it with a time of 2:18.81.
Event running finals in the 100, 200, 400, 800, high and intermediate hurdles as well as the 1500 and 5000-meters takes place Sunday in addition to the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays. Field events include the triple jump, hammer throw and javelin for both the men and women as well as the men's pole vault and men's high jump. Full results from the meet may be found at http://www.deltatiming.com/events/2008/sunbeltout/.
WOMEN
1. Western Kentucky 53
2. Middle Tennessee 46
3. Troy 39
4. Louisiana-Monroe 33
5. Florida International 31
6. North Texas 30
7. Arkansas State 28
8. South Alabama 26
9. Florida Atlantic 15.5
10. UALR 5.5
11. Louisiana-Lafayette 5
MEN
1. Arkansas State 44
2. Middle Tennessee 43
3. Western Kentucky 42
4. Louisiana-Monroe 31
5. Troy 24
6. UALR 20
7. North Texas 13
8. South Alabama 10
9. Louisiana-Lafayette 7
Mail to a friend
Print this article
Share on Facebook
