After working her way through the perhaps the toughest event in the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, one would have assumed that Alysha Adams was completely out of energy.

The freshman showed that wasn’t the case after an impressive double on Saturday at Fouts Field.

For the Denton Record-Chronicle/David Minton

UNT freshman Alysha Adams runs a preliminary heat of the 100-meter hurdles during the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track and Field Chamionships on Saturday at Fouts Field.

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Adams finished third in the heptathlon in just her second time competing in the event, and came back to post the top qualifying time in the 100-meter hurdles for today’s finals.

Adams was locked in a tight battle with Dominique McAdoo of Louisiana-Monroe heading into the 800-meter dash, the final event of the heptathlon. Adams passed McAdoo in the final 100 meters to finish third with 4,597 points.

“I am a little disappointed,” Adams said. “I didn’t do as well as I wanted to in the hurdles and the shot put. I had to get myself back together for the 800. I knew she was ahead of me and that I had to beat her. I tried to stay with her and luckily she didn’t kick with me at the end.”

Adams’ performance was the highlight of a rough day overall for the UNT women, who were dealt a couple of tough blows in their pursuit of the team title.

Lauren Wiggins was disqualified after winning her heat of the 100-meter hurdles when her trail leg didn’t clear a hurdle. Brandi Stanfield finished sixth in the long jump with a leap of 19-0.

Wiggins and Stanfield came into the meet with the top marks in the 100 hurdles and long jump, respectively.

“I had an extremely hard time hitting the board,” Stanfield said. “I have four or five different marks depending on the wind. None of them were on today. I had been dealing with a lot of injuries. My body felt good today. My marks were just bad.”

Losing Wiggins for the 100 hurdles final, combined with Stanfield’s off day in the long jump, will make the performance of UNT’s remaining athletes all the more important in the Mean Green’s pursuit of the team title.

UNT was picked to finish second behind favorite Western Kentucky in the pre-meet coaches poll.

Denton graduate Stacy Orakpo finished seventh in the shot put with a toss of 44-0. UNT’s only other athletes who scored on Saturday were decathletes Andrew Turner (fifth, 6447 points), Josh Papagno (sixth, 6,254) and Jordan Wehr (eighth, 6,087).

Adams led a group of athletes who qualified for Sunday’s finals that UNT hopes will make up for a couple of disappointing performances early in the meet.

The Mean Green has three of the top six qualifying times in the women’s 100-meter dash. Rachael Runnels qualified third in 11.68, while Lauren Wiggins was fifth in 11.72 and Keisha Hornsby sixth in 11.73.

Adams will lead that group in the finals today after a performance she hopes is an indication of what is to come later in her career. The walk-on competed in the heptathlon just once in the first outdoor meet the season.

UNT head coach Rick Watkins started the season planning to have Adams compete in the heptathlon, but backed away when she showed the potential to be a national class hurdler.

Adams is hoping to resume training full time for the heptathlon in the fall.

“I would really like to make it to nationals in the heptathlon next year,” Adams said. “With the training I do in the fall, I will get there. There are a lot of technical things I can work on.”

Adams had just one challenge to work on after her performance in the heptathlon Saturday — qualifying for the finals in her preliminary heat of the 100 hurdles.

It was a test she passed in fine fashion.

“I had to get off the track after the heptathlon and lay down,” Adams said. “I wanted to get first in my heat and feel good going into the finals. I got out pretty good and felt good throughout the race.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .

Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships

Women

High jump – 1. Heather Davis, ULM, 5-8 3/4; 2. Nicole Knox, USA, 5-7; 3. Laurenie Louissaint, FIU, 5-5; 11. Amanda Neal, UNT, 4-11

Long jump – 1. Kerry Walker, FIU, 20-6 1/2; 2. Sarah Nambawa, MTSU, 20-5 1/4; 3. Louise Faye, USA, 19-8 3/4; 6. Brandi Stanfield, UNT, 19-0

Shot put – 1. MeLyn Thompson, MTSU, 47-11 3/4; 2. Brittany Cox, MTSU, 47-8; 3. Lakeitha Elmore, ULM, 44-4 3/4; 7. Stacy Orakpo, UNT, 44-0; 11. Alana Tyler, UNT, 41-6 1/2; 13. Shauna Shepherd, UNT, 38-5.

Heptathlon—1. Juzil Rudolph, Troy, 4,912; 2. Jessica Delaunay, WKU, 4,756; 3. Alysha Adams, UNT, 4,597; 9. Kelli Johnson, UNT, 3,929

10,000 – 1. Eimear O’Brien, WKU, 38:55.86; 2. Sarah Namara, WKU, 39:14.84; 3. Katherine Cardenas, FIU, 39:18.68.

Men

Long jump – 1. O’Darien Bassett, Troy, 25-11; 2. Carl Morgan, MTSU, 25-8; 3. Carlos Morgan, MTSU, 24-11 3/4; 13. Jermaine Jamison, UNT, 22-8 1/2.

Decathlon – 1. B.J. Parish, ASU, 7,253; 2. Isaac Combs, ULM, 6,769; 3. Ruslan Hemed, ULM, 6,733; 5. Andrew Turner, UNT, 6,447; 6. Josh Papagno, UNT, 6,254; 8. Jordan Wehr, UNT, 6,087.

Shot put – 1. Brian Soverns, WKU, 54-11 1/4; 2. Matt Taitt, WKU, 54-10 3/4; 3. Ryan Hisaw, ULM, 50-6

10,000 – 1. Antipah Sugut, USA, 31:53.25; 2. William Songock, MTSU, 31:54.10; 3. James Ngwiri, ASU, 32:35.04; 16; 16. Joey Manning, UNT, 36:09.03.