During the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the Shockers picked up multiple podium finishes and personal records. The Outdoor Championships ran from May 15 to May 17 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Shockers men’s team finished second out of ten teams with a score of 155, a two-spot improvement from a fourth-place finish in last year’s Outdoor Championships. For the second straight season, South Florida won on the men’s side with a score of 173.5 points.
On the women’s side, the team finished sixth out of 13 teams with a score of 68, a slight drop in placing from last year’s tournament. Much like the men’s side, the women’s side saw a repeat champion. Charlotte won the women’s tournament with a score of 123 points.
Thursday
On the men’s side, junior Blake McCormick finished fifth in the javelin throw with a mark of 65.94 meters, a personal best. Junior Beau Kerschen also finished with a personal best of 57.10 meters in the hammer throw, giving him enough to finish sixth.
In the running events, senior Adrian Diaz-Lopez finished fourth in the 10,000 meters with a personal best time of 30:37.68. In the 400-meter hurdles prelims, sophomore Jason Parrish finished with the top overall and personal best time of 50.52.
For the women’s events, sophomore Jenna Kuepker snagged bronze in the javelin throw with a mark of 47.76 meters.
Friday
Like on Thursday, Jason Parrish finished with a top time in the 110-meter hurdles prelims. In the 3000-meter steeplechase, freshman Jonah Allison finished in sixth place with a personal best time of 9:10.33.
Freshman Chairo Ogbebor was the first Shocker to become an AAC Champion during the men’s meet. Ogbebor won the long jump with a personal best distance of 7.66 meters.
Ogbebor’s teammates, sophomore Josh Parrish and freshman Travon Williams, finished in third and fourth, respectively.
For the men’s field events, senior Athan Huelskamp set a season-best mark of 17.03 meters. This placed him fourth in the shot put.
In the men’s decathlon, freshman Rikard Trogen Hedin finished with the gold and senior Hudson Bailey finished with the silver. Trogen Hedin finished with 7189 points overall, and Bailey finished with a personal high of 7084 points.
Hedin finished first in the 100, shot put, discus throw and pole vault.
On the women’s side, senior Jenna Muma finished sixth in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:49.80. In the pole vault, junior Arantxa Cortez earned the silver medal with a mark of 4.02 meters.
In the women’s heptathlon, senior Destiny Masters and sophomore Brianna Utecht finished first and second, respectively.
Masters finished with a facility record of 5503 points. Utecht finished with a personal best of 5295 points. Masters finished first in the long jump with a distance of 5.86 meters. Masters also finished in second in the high jump, shot put and javelin.
Saturday
On the third and final day, the men’s 4×100 relay team finished second after setting a time of 39.68.
Sophomore Yared Kidane got the silver medal as he finished second in the 1,500 meters. Jason Parrish finished first in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.56. His time set a new personal best and broke the facility record by one-hundredth of a second.
Kidane got his second podium placement of the day by winning the 800. Kidane finished with a time of 1:49.54.
Jason Parrish collected his second gold medal, this time in the 400-meter hurdles. He finished with a personal best, meet and facility record of 49.17 seconds. Freshman Kelvin Acheampong finished fourth overall in the triple jump with a personal best distance of 15.21 meters.
On the women’s side, senior Farrah Miller added another gold for the Shockers as she won the 800 with a personal best time of 2:04.37. In women’s field events, Masters placed third in the high jump with a mark of 1.78 meters.
The Shockers track and field team will next compete at the NCAA West Preliminaries. The meet will be held from May 28 to May 31 in College Station, Texas.
