SUN BELT MEN S/WOMEN S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD

SUN BELT MEN S/WOMEN S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD Week 6 Release: February 19, 2014 Contact: Keith Nunez (nunez@sunbeltsports.org) Office: 504-556-0884 Cell: 504-256-8937 TRACK ATHLETES OF THE WEEK Niamh Kearney, Georgia State, Junior, Greystones, Ireland The junior state junior ran the fastest time in the Sun Belt this season and set a Georgia State school record in clocking a 4:54.47 in the mile run at the Southern Mississippi Cupid Classic in Birmingham, Ala. Kearney s time was five seconds better than the previous school record of Katharine Showalter last year. Kearney was third of the 50 runners on Friday, less than three seconds behind Georgia Tech s winner and a non-ncaa athlete from a pro track club. Kearney topped her previous best of 5:03 by nearly 10 seconds. Elvyonn Bailey, WKU, Senior, Riverside, Calif. Bailey captured a pair of victories at the prestigious Iowa State Classic last weekend, winning the 200-meter dash in 21.32 seconds and anchoring WKU s 4X400-meter relay that finished in 3:07.80. Bailey s 200-meter dash time ranks third in the Sun Belt Conference this season while WKU s 4X4 recorded the 10th fastest relay in the NCAA this season. The relay time was the second fastest in WKU history while his 200-meter clocking was the fifth fastest in school history. Bailey enters next week s SBC Indoor Track and Field Championships leading the league in the 400-meter dash and 4X400-meter relay, ranking third in the 200-meter dash and fourth in the 60-meter dash. FIELD ATHLETES OF THE WEEK Danielle Candelaria, Texas State, Senior, Irving, Texas Danielle Candelaria is starting to hit her stride just in time for the fast approaching Sun Belt Indoor Championships. At the Texas A&M Invitational she put up a conferenceleading height of 5-feet-7.75-inches (1.72 meters) in the high jump. The height was the third highest height at the meet. Richard Chavez, Arkansas State, Senior, Clovis, N.M. Chavez earned fourth place among the 27 finals participants in the shot put at New Mexico s Don Kirby Elite Invitational last Saturday (Feb. 15) with a distance of 61-11.31/18.88m. This season, Chavez presently ranks sixth on the NCAA-I Qualifying list in the shot put by turning in a current conference-leading 65-09.75 at the season-opening ASU Kickoff Klassic (Dec. 1). NOTABLE Kearney s Mile Record Paces Georgia State Junior Niamh Kearney set a school record in the mile run to lead Georgia State at the 45-team Cupid Classic last Friday. The Greystones, Ireland native was clocked in 4:54.47 at the Birmingaham, Ala. CrossPlex to finish 3rd of the 50 runners Friday in the Cupid Classic hosted by Southern Mississippi. Kearney s time eclipsed the school record of 4:59.62 set last year by Katharine Showalter. The 4:54 is the fastest time in the Sun Belt indoor season this year. Chavez Fares Well at Don Kirby Invite Arkansas State senior Richard Chavez held his own against top field event competitors at the University of New Mexico s Don Kirby Elite Invitational this past weekend in Albuquerque, N.M. Chavez, a Clovis, N.M. native, earned fourth place among 27 participants in the shot put finals Saturday (Feb. 15) inside the Albuquerque Convention Center with a distance of 61-11.31/18.88m. This season, Chavez presently ranks sixth on the NCAA Division I Qualifying list after turning in a current conference-leading 65-09.75/20.06 at the season-opening ASU Kickoff Klassic (Dec. 1) in Jonesboro, Ark. Jaguars Record 12 Top-Ten Finishes at Cupid Classic South Alabama men s and women s track and field teams recorded a total of 12 top-10 finishes at Friday s Cupid Classic held at the Birmingham CrossPlex. Tyler Agee set a PR in the men s Section A 60-meter hurdles. After clocking in at 8.27 seconds in the preliminaries, the senior recorded a time of 8.16 seconds in the finals to shave one-hundredth of a second off his previous best to claim a runner-up finish in the event. In the Section B finals, Ravaughn Pope knocked two-tenths of a second off his PR with an 8.23-second run to take fourth. Lezyon Legarde logged a pair of personal bests, first in the men s high jump when he leapt 1.95m to finish as part of a three-way tie for fifth place. He later finished just behind Jaylon Holt (fifth, 14.63m) in the triple jump with a 14.60m effort to place sixth. In the women s triple jump, Kaitlyn Beans notched an eighth-place finish with an 11.98m mark. ULM Breaks School DMR Record, Makevic Wins Mile The ULM track & field program saw another school record fall on Friday as the men s distance medley relay broke a 30-year old record at the USM Cupid Classic, ran at the Birmingham CrossPlex. The team of sophomores Andre Brown and Dusan Makevic, junior Hillary Kirwa and freshman Vinnie Van Puyvelde finished in an astounding 10:05.97. It broke ULM s previous record of 10:07.11 set in 1984. In individual events, Makevic continued his impressive indoor campaign by winning the mile. The Sabac, Serbia native finished first out of 49 competitors with a 4:15.19 time. Records Abound for Bobcat Track Teams The Bobcats set school records and had a number of athletes achieve personal records at the Texas A&M Invitational. In the shot put, Darian Brown threw for a personal best 60-feet-6.5-inches (18.45 meters), a new indoor school record, to place second at the meet. He added a fifth place finish in weight throw with a toss of 62-feet-6.5-inches. On the track, Marika Brown set a new indoor school record for the Bobcats with a 200-meter dash of 24.15 to finish in the top 10 at Texas A&M. That puts her second in the conference right on the heels of Sharika Nelvis from Arkansas State, the conference leader. Seth Arnold continues his streak of improving every week. After a lifetime best last week, he did it again this week with a pole vault of 17-feet-9.25-inches (5.42 meters), to win at Texas A&M with a height that was an entire foot above the closest competitor. His height is 9.5 inches above the second highest height in the SBC. February 24-25, 2014 Hosted by the Sun Belt Birmingham, AL WEEK 1 Male Track AOW < Endalow Takele, WKU Female Track AOW < Sharika Nelvis, Arkansas State Male Field AOW < Darian Brown, Texas State Female Field AOW < Jessica Ramsey, WKU INDOOR TRACK & FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE WEEK 3 Male Track AOW < Clayton Vaughn, UT Arlington Female Track AOW < Kristina Aubert, Arkansas State Male Field AOW < Richard Chavez, Arkansas State Female Field AOW < Jessica Ramsey, WKU WEEK 5 Male Track AOW < Clayton Vaughn, UT Arlington Female Track AOW < Kristin Parry, South Alabama Male Field AOW < Cyrus Johnson, WKU Female Field AOW < Lindsey Harmon, UL Lafayette WEEK 2 Male Track AOW < Elvyonn Bailey, WKU Female Track AOW < Sharika Nelvis, Arkansas State Male Field AOW < Justin Victor, UL Lafayette Female Field AOW < Jessica Ramsey, WKU WEEK 4 Male Track AOW < Clayton Vaughn, UT Arlington Female Track AOW < Sharika Nelvis, Arkansas State Male Field AOW < Kashef Daniel, Arkansas State Female Field AOW < Jessica Ramsey, WKU WEEK 6 Male Track AOW < Elvyonn Bailey, WKU Female Track AOW < Niamh Kearney, Georgia State Male Field AOW < Richard Chavez, Arkansas State Female Field AOW < Danielle Candelaria, Texas State

INDOOR TRACK & FIELD SUN BELT TRACK & FIELD 2014 INDOOR TRACK & FIELD SCHEDULE DATE MEET LOCATION TEAMS COMPETING DECEMBER 1 Arkansas State Season Kick-off Jonesboro, Ark. UALR, Arkansas State 3 Music City Challenge Nashville, Tenn. WKU 6 Birmingham Southern Invite Birmingham, Ala. Georgia State 7 MTSU Christmas Classic Murfreesboro, Tenn. WKU JANUARY 10-11 UAB Blazer Invite Birmingham, Ala. Georgia State, South Alabama, Troy, WKU 11 Houston Invitational Houston, Texas Texas State 17-18 Kentucky Invitational Lexington, Ky. Arkansas State, Troy, WKU 17 Texas A&M 12-Team Invite College Station, Texas UL Lafayette, UL Monroe, UT Arlington, Texas State 24 Arkansas State Invite Jonesboro, Ark. UALR, Arkansas State, UL Lafayette 24 Vanderbilt Invitational Nashville, Tenn. WKU 25 Mark Colligan Nebraska Invite Lincoln, Neb. UT Arlington 26 Emory Invite Birmingham, Ala. Georgia State 30 Southern Miss Invitational Birmingham, Ala. Georgia State, UL Monroe 31-Feb. 1 Indiana Relays Bloomington, Ind. WKU 31 Leonard Hilton Memorial Classic Houston, Texas Texas State 31 McNeese State Jeff Davis Invite Lake Charles, La. UL Lafayette FEBRUARY 1 Varsity Apartments Wichita State Invite Wichita, Kan. UT Arlington 2 Tennessee State Invitational Nashville, Tenn. Troy 7-8 Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational Lincoln, Neb. Arkansas State, UT Arlington 7-8 Missouri Invitational Columbia, Mo. Arkansas State 7-8 Samford Invitational Birmingham, Ala. UALR, Georgia State, UL Lafayette, UL Monroe South Alabama, Texas State, Troy 8 Meyo Invitational South Bend, Ind. WKU 14 Southern Miss Valentine's Day Invite Birmingham, Ala. Georgia State, South Alabama 14-15 Texas Tech Invitational Lubbock, Texas UL Monroe 15 Iowa State Classic Ames, Iowa WKU 15 Spire DI Invitational Geneva, Ohio WKU 15 Texas A&M Open College Station, Texas Texas State 24-25 Sun Belt Indoor Track & Field Championships Birmingham, Ala. All SBC Teams 28 Arkansas Final Qualifier Fayetteville, Ark. Arkansas State MARCH 14-15 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships Albuquerque, N.M. Qualified Teams/Individuals