BOONE, N.C. - The App State men's and women's track and field team is headed to Myrtle Beach, S.C. for the Sun Belt Outdoor Track and Field championships at the Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium on May 11-13. All three days of competition will be available to stream on ESPN+.
Action starts on Thursday at noon with field and multi-events. Running events will start at 6:10 p.m. The ESPN+ stream is slated for a 6:05 p.m. start on Thursday. On Friday, the meet will resume at 11 a.m. with the continuation of the multis, followed by field events at 2:30 p.m. Running events, as well as the ESPN+ stream, will start at 5 p.m. On Saturday, field events are slated for a noon start with running events and ESPN+ stream starting at 4 p.m.
Last Time Out
The Mountaineers celebrated the opening of the Randy Marion Track & Field Facility with the App State Open on April 28-29. The meet was App State's first outdoor meet since 2018. The Black and Gold set 22 facility records and totaled 71 top-five finishes on the weekend.
App State took the top-three spots in the men's pole vault, women's long jump, women's 100 meters, women's 400 meters, men's 1,500 meters, and women's 5,000 meters.
Junior
Chris Wainscott collected gold in the men's hammer throw (50.23m (164' 10")) and men's shot put (17.88m (58' 8")), while sophomore
Daiyanna Cooper posted personal bests and first-place finishes in the women's hammer throw (56.86m (186' 7")) and women's shot put (13.61m (44' 7.75")). In the women's triple jump, senior
Jada Branch led the competition with a leap of 13.35m (43' 9.5", +2.5 wind), while junior
Niejel Wilkins clinched first in the men's triple jump with a leap of 15.31m (50' 2.75").
The women's 4x400-meter relay team of senior
Jelonnie Smith, graduate student
Hunter Robinson, Branch and senior
Mariah Atwater clinched first with a time of 3:42.17, while the men's 4x400-meter relay team of freshmen
Jayvion Johnson and
Harrison Robinson, junior
Cole Krehnbrink, and freshman
Christian Gore took first with a time of 3:19.70. The women's 4x100-meter relay team of
Jelonnie Smith,
Hunter Robinson, senior
Taylor Smith, and Atwater also took first with a time of 45.21.
Gore, sophomore
Mariah McCord, and
Harrison Robinson each posted first-place finishes in the men's 400-meter hurdles (52.52, PR), women's 200 meters (24.43, PR), and men's 110-meter hurdles (14.92), respectively.
Junior
Calbert Guest also competed at the Liberty Twilight Qualifier meet on May 3, clocking a personal best of 8:56.13 in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase to place second overall.
Ranked Mountaineers
Entering the Sun Belt Outdoor Championships, 25 Mountaineers rank in the Sun Belt top-10 in 19 individual events. Four Mountaineers rank among the top-10 in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase, with Guest remaining the leader of the category. Branch stays second in the women's triple jump while Wilkins moves to second in the men's triple jump. Wainscott also holds his spot at second in the men's shot put, and moves to fifth in the men's hammer throw and sixth in the men's discus. Gore ranks fifth in the men's 400-meter hurdles and junior
Dwayne Lillie remains fifth in the men's 5,000 meters. Senior
Oliver Wilson-Cook and junior
Ryan Teuscher maintain their spots at fourth and fifth, respectively, in the men's 10,000 meters. In the USTFCCCA weekly conference rankings, the men's squad remains ranked fifth as a team.
In the Southeast Region, 13 Mountaineers stand in the top-25 in 12 individual events. Branch maintains her spot at third in the women's triple jump and Wilkins ranks ninth in the men's triple jump. Wainscott remains eighth in the men's shot put.
Taylor Smith remains 10th in the women's long jump. Guest moves to 12th in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase category while
Harrison Robinson holds to his spot at 15th in the men's 110-meter hurdles category. The men's squad ranks 24th while the women rank 26th in the USTFCCCA Southeast Region team rankings.
App State's women's triple jump squad remains 11th in the USTFCCCA Event Squad Rankings.
Up Next
The NCAA East Preliminary Round is slated for May 24-27 in Jacksonville, Fla. The top-48 declared student-athletes in each individual event and top-24 declared relay teams will advance to the East Prelim competition. Accepted entries will be announced on NCAA.com a week prior to competition.
Four Mountaineers stand in the top-48 of the East Prelim qualifying list. Branch ranks eighth in the women's triple jump, Wainscott ranks 32nd in the men's shot put, Wilkins ranks 38th in the men's triple jump, and Guest ranks 41st in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase. The quartet also ranks among the NCAA top-100. Branch stands 15th in the women's triple jump, Wainscott stands 69th in the men's shot put, Wilkins stands 79th in the men's triple jump, and Guest stands 91st in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase.
All regional qualifiers will be finalized after all NCAA conference meets conclude.
