North Texas made a run on the final day of the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships only to come up short in the team race at Fouts Field.

The Mean Green came into the day hoping to chase down Western Kentucky and made some headway thanks to a solid day in the sprinting events before the Hilltoppers pulled away. WKU won the women’s team title with 143 points to outdistance UNT, which had 115.

The Hilltoppers also won the men’s title to complete the sweep of the team championships.

“We made too many mistakes early, but our kids stepped up and competed on the final day,” UNT head coach Rick Watkins said. “We picked up a lot of regional qualifying times.”

UNT left the Sun Belt meet with 14 total qualifying marks on the season.

No UNT athlete made a bigger impression over the weekend than Alysha Adams, who was named the meet’s Outstanding Freshman.

Adams blew away the field in the finals of the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 13.82 seconds and also finished third in the heptathlon, an event that concluded on Saturday.

“Overall I am pretty happy,” Adams said. “I was a little disappointed in my time in the finals of the hurdles. It is still something I can build from for the rest of the season. I will take the win. First place is first place.”

Adams was also named the Outstanding Freshman at the Sun Belt Indoor Meet earlier this year.

“She deserves it,” Watkins said. “She had a great meet.”

 

Giano avoids being DQed, finishes second in 1500

Billy Giano had to wait through a couple of tense moments to find out how he would finish in the 1,500-meter run.

What was unusual about the wait was that it came after he cross the finish line.

The junior was cruising along in a pack of runners heading into the final 200 meters of the race when he got tangled up with another competitor. Meet officials considered disqualifying Giano for pushing, but later ruled that Giano was cut off and did nothing wrong.

“I was a little worried,” Giano said. “They thought that I pushed him, but he slowed down going into the final 100 meters and cut in front of me.”

Giano’s second-place finish was his best ever in the Sun Belt meet.

 

Varner pulls impressive double

UNT junior Ryan Varner pulled off an impressive double on the final day of the Sun Belt meet, earning medals in both the 200- and 400-meter dashes.

Varner finished second in the 200 in a time of 21.18 that exceeded the NCAA regional qualifying mark. The Texas Tech transfer also finished third in the 400 in 47.37, just short of the regional qualifying mark.

 

UNT adds three new regional marks

UNT posted three new regional qualifying marks during the final day of the Sun Belt meet.

The Mean Green’s 4x100-meter relay team finished second in a regional qualifying time of 45.45. Racquel Hudson just missed earning a medal by finishing fourth in the 400 hurdles, but her time of 1:00.68 eclipsed the regional qualifying standard.

Temitayo Harriman also qualified by winning the 800-meter dash. Harriman did not meet the regional qualifying standard, but the winner of each conference meet automatically qualifies for the regional meet.

 

Harriman wins 800 in thrilling finish

Temitayo Harriman needed every ounce of energy he had to finish off his win in the 800 meters in one of the final events of the Sun Belt meet.

Harriman led a pack of four runners heading into the final 200 meters and used a strong closing kick to hold off Stephen Wilson of Western Kentucky. The junior finished in a time of 1:54.30, just in front of Wilson, who posted a time of 1:54.53.

Four runners finished within a half second of each other.

“I haven’t had to push myself to the limit, so I didn’t know how hard I could go at the end,” Harriman said. “I did what it took to win.”

 

UNT duo excels in high jump

Freshman Jermaine Jamison won the high jump, an event UNT dominated.

Jamison jumped 6-8 3/4 and was one of three Mean Green athletes to finish in the top six. Junior Toby Edwards finished third with a jump of 6-6 3/4, while freshman Layne Farmer tied for sixth place at 6-4 3/4.

Jamison finished eighth in the Sun Belt’s indoor conference meet earlier this year.

 

UNT athletes win medals

Several other UNT athletes earned medals on the final day of the Sun Belt meet.

Ciara Smith finished second in the 400-meter dash in a regional qualifying time of 53.90. Alana Tyler was third in the hammer throw with a toss of 175-5, while Toby Zelt finished third in the pole vault with a mark of 15-7 in his first meet in a month due to a hamstring injury.

“I am really happy about it,” Zelt said. “I have been out for about a month. I really wanted to come back for this meet.”

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

 

Women

Team scores – 1. Western Kentucky 143, 2. North Texas 115, 3. Middle Tennessee 109, 4. Troy 101, 5. South Alabama 82, 6. Louisiana-Monroe 72, 7. Florida Atlantic 61 1/2, 8. Louisiana-Lafayette 44, 9. Florida International 41, 10. Arkansas State 34, 11. Arkansas-Little Rock 14.50.

100 – 1. Tawanna Meadows, Troy, 11.27; 2. Rachael Runnels, 11.76; 3. Lauren Wiggins, UNT,  11.86; 6. Keisha Hornsby, UNT, 11.96

200 – 1. Tawanna Meadows, Troy, 23.35; 2. Valerie Brown, WKU, 24.02; 3. Rachael Runnels, UNT, 24.07; 4. Ciara Smith, UNT, 24.21;

400 – 1. Valerie Brown, WKU, 53.68; 2. Ciara Smith, UNT, 53.90; 3. Natalie Dixon, USA, 54.25; 7. Shayla Hart, UNT, 55.95

800 – 1. Clarisse Moh, USA, 2:09.31; 2. Zamzam Sangau, MTSU, 2:11.82; 3. Alecia Brown, WKU, 2:13.45.

1500 – 1. Zamzam Sangau, MTSU, 4:33.79; 2. Friederike Feil, FAU, 4:36.44; 3. Marjorie Gombert, MTSU, 4:42.04; 7. Jessica Torres, UNT, 4:1.15; 9. Amanda Kean, UNT, 4:54.72; 19. Alex Sherwin, UNT, 5:17.46

5000 – 1. Eimear O’Brien, WKU, 17:48.57; 2. Zamzam Sangau, MTSU, 17:51.86; 3. Natalie Leeper, WKU, 17:53.32; 26. Sallie Anderson, UNT, 19:47.52

4x400 relay – 1. UNT 3:39.89, 2. South Alabama 3:40.35, 3. Louisiana-Lafayette 3:45.11

100 hurdles – 1. Alysha Adams, UNT, 13.82; 2. Christian Burrell, USA, 14.18; 3. Porsche Holden, Troy, 14.40

400 hurdles – 1. Toyria Mattear, FAU, 59.72; 2. Taryn Simmons, ULL, 1:00.20; 3. Lindsay Glover, FAU, 1:00.30; 4. Racquel Hudson, UNT, 1:00.68

4x100 relay – 1. Western Kentucky 45.34, 2. UNT 45.45, Troy 45.71.

3000 steeplechase – 1. Friederike Feil, FAU, 10:55.52; 2. Natalie Leeper, WKU, 11:04.24; 3. Ashley Moore, WKU, 11:36.41; 8. Jessica Torres, UNT, 11:51.87.

Hammer throw – 1. Sarah Lambrecht, WKU, 184-4; 2. Destiny Montemayor, ULM, 179-6; 3. Alana Tyler, UNT, 175-5; 8. Shauna Shepherd, UNT, 155-2

Triple jump – 1. Sarah Nambawa, MTSU, 44-2; 2. Agata Cichoszewska, Troy, 41-7 3/4; 3. Louise Faye, USA, 40-11; 4. Brandi Stanfield, UNT, 40-9; 10. Kelli Johnson, UNT, 37-6 ?

Javelin – 1. Porsha Butler, FIU, 141-4; 2. Angela McCord, USA, 133-3; 3. Amy Doucet, ULL, 131-4; 12. Shelley Hollingsworth, UNT, 109-1; 19. Christal Brewster, UNT, 94-11

 

 

Men

Team scores – 1. Western Kentucky 144, 2. Middle Tennessee 124, 3. Troy 99 1/2; 4. North Texas 98, 4. North Texas 98, 5. Arkansas State 91, 6. Louisiana-Monroe 74, 7. Arkansas-Little Rock 68, 8. Louisiana-Lafayette 49, 9. South Alabama 41, 10. Florida International 29 1/2. 

100 – 1. Gavin Smellie, WKU, 10.46; 2. LaMar Hicks, Troy, 10.48; 3. Samuel Adade, MTSU, 10.66; 6. Byron Washington, UNT, 10.73

200 – 1. Gavin Smellie, WKU, 21.15; 2. Ryan Varner, UNT, 21.18; 3. Terrill McCombs, WKU, 21.25

400 – 1. Terrill McCombs, WKU, 47.20; 2. Mychal Word, ULM, 47.22; 3. Ryan Varner, UNT, 47.37; 6. Darnell Greig, UNT, 47.86; 8. Montrell Pyron, UNT, 48.32.

800 – 1. Temitayo Harriman, UNT,  1:54.30; 2. Stephen Wilson, WKU, 1:54.53; 3. Andrew Opata, ULM, 1:54.73.

1500 – 1. Aaron Batey, UALR, 3:56.75; 2. Billy Giano, UNT, 3:57.05; 3. Festus Chemaoi, MTSU, 3:57.38; 8. Brandon Cooper, UNT, 4:01.97; 10. Matt Peters, UNT, 4:03.89; 14. Andrew Sumner, UNT, 4:10.32

5000 – 1. William Songock, MTSU, 15:02.87; 2. James Ngwiri, ASU, 15:15.98; 3. Aaron Batey, UALR, 15:20.92; 10. Billy Giano, UNT, 15:46.03; 18. Joey Manning, 16:14.41

110 hurdles – 1. Ronald Forbes, FIU, 14.13; 2. Leander McKenzie, Troy, 14.17; 3. Kazmere Hill, ASU, 14.23

4x400 relay – 1. UNT 3:10.23, 2. Louisiana-Monroe 3:10.48, 3. Arkansas-Little Rock 3:11.45.

400 hurdles – 1. Stacey Fuller, ULL, 52.47; 2. DeRay Sloss, MTSU, 52.52; 3. Desmond Brown, Troy, 52.95; 4. Adam Thiel, UNT, 54.32.

4x100 relay – 1. Western Kentucky 40.48, 2. Middle Tennessee 40.79, UNT 40.97

Pole vault – 1. Jeremy Willis, ASU, 16-6 3/4; 2. Chris Roy, ULL, 16-7 3/4; 3. Toby Zelt, UNT, 15-7

High jump – 1. Jermaine Jamison, UNT, 6-8 3/4; 2. Jeremy Evans, WKU, 6-8 3/4; 3. Toby Edwards, UNT, 6-6 3/4; 6. Layne Farmer, UNT, 6-4 3/4; 9. Andrew Turner, UNT, 6-4 3/4

Hammer throw – 1. Kirby Atkins, UALR, 175-0; 2. Brian Soverns, WKU, 174-10; 3. Matt Taitt, WKU, 173-5

Javelin – 1. Kyle Kent, ULM, 215-7; 2. Norman Austin, Troy, 212-6; 3. Carlos Morgan, MTSU, 208-4; 15. Adam Scott, UNT, 147-3

Triple jump – 1. Carl Morgan, MTSU, 51-8 1/4; 2. O’Darien Bassett, Troy, 50-9 1/4; 3.  Asa Dew, WKU, 50-4 1/2

3000 steeplechase – Festus Chemaoi, MTSU, 9:40.33; 2. Aaron Batey, UALR, 9:45.91; 3. Julius Kirui, MTSU, 9:48.24