DMR Team Makes Podium; WKU Advances Four Runners on Day One at C-USA

Saturday, February 20

Birmingham, Ala.

Western Kentucky University

Conference USA Indoor Championships

DMR Team Makes Podium; WKU Advances Four Runners on Day One at C-USA

2/20/2021 10:00:00 PM | Track & Field

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – WKU Track & Field scored points in the men's weight throw, men's distance medley relay and women's pole vault on the first day of competition at the 2021 Conference USA Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Birmingham Crossplex. The DMR squad finished third for a podium placement and four men's runners advanced to the finals of their events.

WKU's distance medley relay team finished the day on a high note as Clint Sherman, Jonathan Allen, Casey Buchanan and Dedrick Troxell earned a spot on the podium with a third-place finish in the event. The four-man squad recorded a time of 10:14.86 to attain the medal and score six points on the men's side.

Sophomore Brett Brannon and junior John Elam also scored points for the Red and White, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, in the weight throw. Brannon threw a personal best 17.23 meters while Elam notched a personal best 16.56-meter throw.

"I'm extremely pleased with Brett and John today in the weight throw," Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Brent Chumbley said on the scoring duo. "Big PRs are always what we want at this time of year and those men came through for us."

Between the DMR and weight throw, the Hilltoppers have scored 15 points through the first day of competition.

Finding the scoreboard for the women was sophomore pole vaulter Grace Turner. With a mark of 3.56 meters, Turner finished eighth at the Championships and scored a point for the women's squad.

"Grace had a solid performance for us tonight to score in the pole vault," said Chumbley on the sophomore. "She's been coming off a minor foot injury and it's been difficult, but she got the job done."

In the men's 200-meter preliminaries, graduate senior Marlowe Mosley clocked a time of 21.47 to finish second while reigning C-USA Champion Dartez Hamlin came in fourth with a 21.74.

"Last year Dartez was the champion of the event, but this year we're just hoping for both of them to be in the top three," said assistant coach Tosha Ansley. "Who wins it? Who's second? Who's third? We just want them to do their best, that's the main thing. Finishing in the top three is my thing. Hopefully they're in the top three, but we'll see how it goes."

Current C-USA leader Mosley finished first in the 400-meter prelims and will take the top spot headed into Sunday's finals. Allen, member of the third-place DMR, clocked a personal best of 49.96 in the 400 and finished in ninth, just outside a qualifying spot for the finals.

"Marlowe's sitting first in the 400. We just need him to finish it out and hopefully run a little bit faster, that's always the goal," added Ansley. "We had some PRs along the way with Jonathan Allen. He just missed qualifying for the 400 finals, but that was a PR for him, so we were happy about that. Mainly, as I always say, I just want them to try and cross the line healthy. In some cases, that worked for us today. In some cases, it didn't. Hopefully, we can regroup and come out tomorrow and fight on."

In the mile, teammates Troxell and Sherman qualified for the finals after finishing fourth and sixth respectively in Saturday's preliminary race. In the rest of the distance group, both Emerson Wells and Carley Maskos logged PRs in their 5,000-meter races. Troxell and Buchanan narrowly missed the finals of the 800-meter after finishing 11^th and 12^th, respectively.

"We came into this C-USA Championships as a much-improved distance group from 2020 and that showed in our performances today," said assistant coach Brooks LeCompte. "Many of the student-athletes either ran a PR or were very close to one. The men's 800 didn't go quite how we hoped, but not everything is going to go your way. We use these experiences to learn and grow from. Those guys came back and helped the DMR to a third-place finish and that is exactly the culture that I want to build here. Tomorrow, I expect to see more of the same from my group."

On Sunday, competition for the Red and White will begin at 10 a.m. with the men's shot put. Both Troxell and Sherman advanced to the finals of the 1 mile race, and that will begin at noon. Following the mile, conference leader Mosley will go for the 400-meter title at 12:45 p.m.

The final of the men's 200 will be a battle of the Hilltoppers between reigning 200-meter champion Hamlin and teammate Mosley. The faceoff will be run at 1:40 p.m. The men's 3000-meter will start at 1:50 p.m. followed by the women's at 2:15 p.m. WKU will wrap up the Championships with the men's 4x400-meter relay at 2:40.

"We have some good chances to score tomorrow and do well," added Chumbley. "Hopefully we will have a bit better luck tomorrow and get more points on the board."

WKU's men's squad sits in sixth through six scored events while the women are in 11th after five scored events.

Men's Results
60m prelims
11^th – Elliott Bryant – 6.99
200m prelims
2^nd – Marlowe Mosley – 21.47* – qualified
4^th – Dartez Hamlin – 21.73 – qualified
400m prelims
1^st – Marlowe Mosley – 47.70 – qualified
9^th – Jonathan Allen – 49.96*
800m prelims
11^th – Dedrick Troxell – 1:58.76
12^th – Casey Buchanan – 1:58.82
1 mile prelims
4^th – Dedrick Troxell – 4:15.75 – qualified
6^th – Clint Sherman – 4:16.42* – qualified
5,000m
9^th – Emerson Wells – 15:04.63*
DMR
3^rd – Sherman, Allen, Buchanan, Troxell – 10:14.86 – 6 points
Pole Vault
9^th – Devon Montgomery – 4.44m
Weight Throw
4^th – Brett Brannon – 17.23m* – 5 points
5^th – John Elam – 16.56m* – 4 points
11^th – Kaison Barton – 14.54m
13^th – Joel Dittoe – 13.95m

Women's Results
60m prelims
10^th – Alexis Williams – 7.77
200m prelims
DNS – Alexis Williams
1 mile prelims
14^th – Savannah Heckman – 5:16.30
15^th – Lucy Rutherford – 5:17.27
20^th – Maddy Hurt – 5:22.73
5,000m
9^th – Savannah Heckman – 17:55.00
18^th – Carley Maskos – 19:19.74*
Pentathlon
DNS - Samyzia Sears
Pole Vault
8^th – Grace Turner – 3.56m – 1 point
NH – Allison Ferguson
NH – Nikki Ogorek
Weight Throw
24^th - Mary Claire Redden – 11.73m

*denotes collegiate PR
Bold, points earned