BOONE, N.C. - The App State men's and women's track & field team is set to compete at the Sun Belt Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by ULM at the Groseclose Track at Brown Stadium, on May 9-11. Action starts at 10:30 a.m. CT (11:30 a.m. ET) on Thursday and Friday. Saturday's action will start at 12 p.m. CT (1 p.m. ET). All three days of competition will be available to stream on ESPN+.
Last Time Out
The Mountaineers rounded out the regular season with a new men's pole vault program record, 10 new facility records, and 64 top-five finishes at the App State Open, held at the Randy Marion Track & Field Facility, on April 26-27. Freshman
Matthew Gray broke the school record in the men's pole vault for second consecutive week and set the facility record, recording a personal best clearance of 5.34m (14' 6.25") and surpassing the mark of 5.33m (17' 5.75"), which he set at the Georgia Tech Invitational.
App State also took the top-five spots in the women's 200 meters, led by freshman
Jayla Adams, who clocked a personal best of 23.94. Adams also led the pack in the women's 400m meters with a time of 55.87 as the Mountaineers took the top-four spots. Senior
Taylor Smith led the Black and Gold in the women's 100 meters with a personal best and facility record of 11.53.
Taylor Smith also clinched first in the women's long jump (6.32m (20' 9"), PR, FR) and ran the third leg of the women's 4x100-meter relay, helping the quartet to a first place finish with a time of 44.85. Freshman Armonté Ferguson took first in the men's 100 meters with a time of 10.66.
The Mountaineers also saw first-place finishes from graduate student
Alexia Moehling and sophomore
Harrison Robinson in the women's 100-meter hurdles (13.95) and men's 110-meter hurdles (13.99), respectively. Senior
Jasmine Donohue placed first in the women's 800 meters with a time of 2:14.40, while sophomore
Tucker Sangster took first in the men's 5,000 meters with a personal best of 14:44.92. Additionally, the Black and Gold clinched first in the men's and women's 4x400-meter relay races.
The Black and Gold took the top spots in the men's and women's hammer throws as senior
Chris Wainscott recorded a personal best and facility record toss of 58.57m (192' 2") and junior
Daiyanna Cooper recorded a toss of 52.11m (171' 0"). Freshman
Jared Hiatt landed first in the men's long jump with a leap of 7.27m (23' 10.25"), while senior
Niejel Wilkins clinched first with a personal best leap and facility record of 15.83m (51' 11.25") in the men's triple jump.
Ranked Mountaineers
Entering the SBC Championships, 36 Mountaineers rank among the top-10 in the Sun Belt Rankings in 28 events. Leading the league in their respective events are sophomore
Ethan Lipham (men's 1,500 meters), graduate student
Ashlee Osaji (women's long jump), and Wilkins (men's triple jump). Fourteen athletes rank among the top-10 in two or more events in the Sun Belt, led by
Taylor Smith, who earned a trio of Sun Belt Athlete of the Week honors and ranks in the top-10 in the women's 100 meters, women's 200 meters, women's long jump, and women's 4x100-meter relay.
Sierra Smith stands in the top-10 rankings for the women's 200 meters as well as the women's 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays while Krehnbrink stands in the top-10 in the men's 400 meters as well as the men's 4x100-meter snd 4x400-meter relays.
Up Next
The NCAA East Preliminary Round is scheduled for May 22-25 in Lexington, Ky. The top-48 declared student-athletes in each individual event and top-24 declared relay teams will advance to the East Prelim meet.
Seven Mountaineers currently rank among the top-48 on the NCAA East Prelim Qualifying List. Osaji and
Taylor Smith stand fourth and 18th, respectively, in the women's long jump category. Wilkins rounds out the top-10 in the men's triple jump category, while Gray checks in at 16th in the men's pole vault category. Robinson ranks 38th in the men's 110-meter hurdles. Sophomore
Ava Studney stands 42nd in the women's pole vault, while Wainscott stands 45th in the men's shot put.
Additionally, Osaji, Wilkins, Gray, and
Taylor Smith stand among the top-50 in the NCAA overall in their respective events.
