Bearcats Claim 5 Individual Crowns on Day 1

February 29, 2016

Alex Ryan

To say it was a banner day for the University of Cincinnati track and field team on the opening day of competition at the 2016 American Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships would be quite an understatement. The Bearcats won five individual events, including sweeping the weight throw and long jump competitions, to put both teams into a strong position heading into Monday’s final day of action.

Through six events on the women’s side, UC leads the team race with 38 points on the strength of titles from Annette Echikunwoke (weight throw) and Rebecka Abrahamsson (long jump) and sits two points ahead of UConn. Memphis (32), East Carolina (29) and UCF (23) round out the women’s Top 5 standings. For the men, three titles in the five scored events gave the Bearcats 47 points, placing them second behind Tulsa, who has 48 points. The men’s Top 5 is rounded out by South Florida (34), UConn (27) and a tie between Houston and East Carolina (13). Champions included Adrian Valles – now a two-time indoor and three-time overall – pole vault champion, Josh Province (weight throw) and Sergio Acera Villanueva (long jump).

Combined, the Bearcats went on to collect a total of 31 personal-bests on the day while adding 22 marks to the program’s all-time Top 10 lists. Included among those 22 all-time marks was another school record for Province in the weight throw and eight more marks ranking either second or third all-time in Bearcats history. UC also had 17 entries in event preliminaries and saw nine of those competitors earn a berth into the finals.

// WOMEN’S RESULTS

– Saving the best for last held true to form as the women’s weight throw competition was the last event to finish on Day 1 and saw Echikunwoke claim her first title as her toss of 21.40m (70-02.50) captured the crown and established a meet record. Also in the final was Monica Phillips, who posted a monster PR, hitting a mark of 19.49m (63-11.50) to place sixth overall and move into third all-time at UC. Combined, the two women earned a total of 13 team points in the event.

– Two PR’s turned out to be what Abrahamsson would need to win the long jump as she tied for the title with a mark of 6.01m (19-08.75) – the No. 2 mark in school history – while using a mark of 5.96m to earn the tie-breaker for the crown and claiming 10 team points. Abrahamsson will look to sweep the jumps tomorrow as she is the top seed in the triple jump.

– The pole vault provided nine team points as Alyssa McBride found her way to the podium with a third-place finish and freshman Brooke Catherine added three points by finishing sixth. McBride cleared a season-best 4.02m (13-02.25) to grab the bronze medal while Catherine was up and over 3.82m (12-06.25), making for the eighth-best clearance in school history.

– UC added four team points in the distance medley relay as the team of Tes Corea, Deanna Gesicki, Alexis Anton and Meg Westerheide combined to run 11:54.53 and finish fifth overall. Their time also stands as the second-fastest in UC history.

– The pentathlon was conducted on the opening day with freshman Naomi Urbano taking seventh (3,369 points) and Maggie Loeffler (3,130) taking 10th in the five-event competition. Urbano, who now ranks No. 7 all-time at UC in the pentathlon, recorded a PR in the 800m run to close out the event and collect two team points. Loeffler posted a pair of individual event PR’s on the day.

– Kenya Woodall had a solid day in the preliminary rounds of the 200m and 400m dash, needing a speedy 24.06 PR in the 200m to make the final as the eighth and final qualifier while posting the second-best time in program history. In the quarter, her time of 54.45 was the third-best qualifier on the day.

– Bryana Robinson had nearly as productive time day as Woodall as she rank 24.32 to take 11th in the 200m dash after running 54.99 to finish as the seventh qualifier in the open quarter. Overall, her times now stand No. 4 and No. 2, respectively, in UC history.

– Anton advance to the final of the mile run as she clocked in at 5:02.23 to earn the 12th and final qualifying spot. Her time also stands as the third-best all-time at UC.

– Adding their names to the program ledger were Haisha Bisiolu in the 200m dash and Jada Grant in the 400m dash. Bisiolu completed the single lap event in 24.77 to post a PR and the school’s No. 6 time while Grant ran 56.23 for the No. 7 time in the 400m.

– Also on the track, the duo of Javette Lee (8.52) and Aliya Barnes (8.53) both qualified to the finals of the 60m hurdles, posting the fifth and sixth-fastest times of the day.

// MEN’S RESULTS

– The day got off to a grand start for the program as three men placed in the Top 7 of the pole vault to spot the Bearcats 18 points through one event. Valles continued to improve on his best of the season as he cleared 5.43m (17-09.75) to claim back-to-back indoor titles while also posting a clearance that should bring him back to Birmingham in two weeks for the NCAA Championships. Also in the event, Nathan Alexander climbed to a PR and the program’s No. 8 all-time mark as he broke the five meter mark with a clearance of 5.07m (16-07.50) to earn six team points while Colt Robinson cleared 4.92m (16-01.75) to tie his PR and grab two points for the team.

– Acera added 10 team points for the men as he captured his first conference title, winning the long jump with a leap of 7.25m (23-09.50) while Tariq Sanders took eighth with his mark of 6.92m (22-08.50). All told, the duo added 11 points to the team’s total.

– UC’s third champion was Province in the weight throw, giving him his second conference crown after winning the outdoor hammer throw in 2014. Province used another PR and school record to win gold, throwing 19.78m (64-10.75) as his best of the day. It also marked the third time he broke the record this season.

– Similar to the women, the distance medley relay posted the No. 2 time in program history as Ian Silver, Ryan Greene, Jarrod Hart and Seamus Collins combining to run 9:57.82 and finish as the conference runner-up in the event.

– The first four events in the heptathlon were held on Sunday with Alex Bloom scoring 2,948 points and Ben Wollenslegel, in his multi-event debut, scoring 2,756 points, earning the second and sixth-best Day 1 totals in program history. Bloom utilized PR’s in the opening three events while also posting those marks among the Top 5 in the program’s heptathlon ledger while Wollenslegel had PR’s in all four events, including the No. 2 high jump heptathlon clearance in UC history. Both men, who sit third and fourth overall, respectively, will look to finish strong on Monday with the final three events.

– In the only other final held on the day, Greg Sanders and Dan Huben raced in the 5,000m event as both posted PR’s to finish 10th and 13th, respectively.

– Following his impressive showing in the pole vault, Alexander took to the track and ran 48.59 (PR) in the 400m dash, posting the fifth-fastest qualifying time on the day.

– Two other runners advanced to the finals in their respective events as Mykel Chambers sits eighth overall in the 60m dash and Michael Vitucci is 11th in the mile run. Both freshmen ran personal-best times with Chambers’ 6.86 standing as the fourth-fastest in UC history.

The final day of competition will be held tomorrow (Monday).

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Women’s Results – at American Championships (2/28/16) – Day 1

60m Dash – Prelims

Haisha Bisiolu – 7.65 – does not advance

60m Hurdles – Prelims

Javette Lee – 8.52 – advances
Aliya Barnes – 8.53 – advances

200m Dash – Prelims

Kenya Woodall – 24.06 – advances – PR & UC #2
Bryana Robinson – 24.32 – does not advance – PR& UC #4
Haisha Bisiolu – 24.77 – does not advance – PR & UC #6

400m Dash – Prelims

Kenya Woodall – 54.45 – advances
Bryana Robinson – 54.99 – advances – PR & UC #2
Jada Grant – 56.23 – does not advance – PR & UC #7

Mile Run – Prelims

Alexis Anton – 5:02.23 – advances – PR & UC #3

Long Jump – FINAL

Rebecka Abrahamsson – 6.01m (19-08.75) – Champion – PR & UC #2 – 10 points
Kellsa Mbah – 5.74m (18-10.00)

Pole Vault – FINAL

Alyssa McBride – 4.02m (13-02.25) – 6 points
Brooke Catherine – 3.82m (12-06.25) – PR & UC #8 – 3 points

t15. Sadie Brass – 3.52m (11-06.50)

Weight Throw – FINAL

Annette Echikunwoke – 21.50m (70-02.50) – Champion – Meet Record – 10 points
Monica Phillips – 19.49m (63-11.50) – PR & UC #3 – 6 points
Leah Heckaman – 16.28m (53-05.00)

Distance Medley Relay – FINAL