Championship Central | Results
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Day one of the 2019 Air Force Reserve Conference USA Indoor Track & Field Championships is in the books as seven Hilltoppers have qualified for Sunday's event finals. With half of the weekend action from the Birmingham CrossPlex in the books, the Lady Toppers currently sit in 12th, while the Hilltoppers are in 10th place. Twenty-eight individuals and the men's 4x400-meter relay squad will represent the Red and White in Sunday's competition.
"Championships are simple," head coach Erik Jenkins opened. "You line up and beat people. That's the beauty of the sport of track and field. We wrapped up the first day scoring in the men's DMR and had our first women's scorer in the long jump. The men advanced a qualifier in every short and long sprint, which includes the 800. In addition, Juannae Lewis advances to the women's 200-meter finals for the second-straight year."
Brett Brannon got the meet started for the Hilltoppers with a personal-best throw of 13.12-meter mark (43' 0.5") in the men's weight throw.
In the men's distance events, freshman Matthew Wininger posted a season-best 4:30.80 in the mile to finish 16th. Following suit in the 800-meter race, Abdur Kelly locked up a spot in Sunday's finals after running a season-best 1:54.38 – WKU's second-fastest time of the season.
Will Bush earned a spot in Sunday's 60-meter dash event finals after clocking a season-best 6.85. The mark earned Bush sixth place in the prelims. Later in the meet, Bush narrowly missed qualifying for the 200-meter finals when he ran an indoor personal-best 21.64 to finish ninth in the standings.
A pair of WKU sprinters did earn places in the 200-meter finals though, as Martin Owusu-Antwi ran WKU's season-best time of 21.20 and Austin Hayes clocked a season-best 21.47. Owusu-Antwi finished second in the preliminary field while Hayes earned seventh.
WKU saw two Hilltoppers earn spots in Sunday's 400-meter dash event finals as Kymari Gates ran an indoor personal-best 47.28 and Oliver Alexandre clocked a 47.67. The pair of Red and White competitors finished fourth and sixth, respectively, in the prelims.
The men's distance medley relay group of Dedrick Troxell, Maor Seged, Ka'Ven Berry and Emerson Wells clocked a 10:32.02 to take seventh place, picking up WKU's first two points of the meet.
Annastacia Forrester took home a fifth-place finish in the women's long jump and covering 5.88 meters (19' 3.5") – her third-best mark of the season. Forrester's top-five finish gave the Lady Toppers four points in the standings. Myesha Nott finished 15th in the event after posting a personal best 5.52-meter (18' 1.5") reading.
In the women's weight throw, freshman Mary Claire Redden turned in a season-best toss of 11.61 meters (38' 1.25").
Juannae Lewis added a career-best 24.08 reading in the 200-meter dash to take third overall in the prelims and earn herself a spot in Sunday's finals for the second-consecutive season. The Lady Topper senior also ran a 58.92 in the 400-meter on the day – her second-best time of the year.
Women's distance runners Morgan Kannapel and Lauren Roby each added personal-best times in the 5000-meter event. Kannapel's 20:04.80 mark shattered her previous best while Roby clocked a 21:08.18.
The Lady Toppers' distance medley relay unit of Haley Webb, Audrey Griffin, Aairiona Hayden-Ransom and Savannah Heckman posted WKU's season-best mark of 13:23.91 for a top-10 finish.
The Championships will resume Sunday morning with the remaining heptathlon events commencing at 9 a.m. CT. Field events will begin at 11 a.m. followed by the remainder of the running finals at 1 p.m. Day two will be livestreamed on CUSA TV for free until ESPN+ coverage kicks off at 2 p.m.
How to follow WKU Track & Field: For complete information on WKU Track & Field, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUTrackField.
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