Courtesy: Alabama State Athletics
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas | Alabama State chased down Prairie View A&M on the final day of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Outdoor Track and Field Championships, winning the title in the last event of the day to claim their 11th consecutive outdoor title.
The Lady Hornets trailed Prairie View A&M with five events left on the day, taking the lead before Prairie View A&M tied the overall team score at 158-all heading into the final event of the day — the 4×400-meter relay. Alabama State not only finished ahead of the Panthers to win the title, but they also won the final event of the day with a time of 3:44.87.
Alabama State finished atop the standings with 168 points, finishing seven points ahead of Prairie View A&M (161) — the same amount the Lady Hornets trailed entering the day. UAPB finished third, followed by Southern and Grambling State.
Trailing heading into the sprint competitions, the Lady Hornets claimed their first title of the day in the 4z100-meter relay with a time of 45.05 seconds, finishing ahead of UAPB (45.32) and Alabama A&M (46.25). Tionna Brown claimed the title of the “Fastest Woman in the SWAC” with a win in the 100-meters (11.26 seconds) and 200-meters (23.47 seconds) to pace Alabama State.
Brown was joined in the 100-meters by Halima Barlow in fourth with a time of 11.71 seconds, while Nia Jack finished seventh with a time of 12.14 seconds and Ulani Toussaint in eighth at 12.78. In the 200-meters, Barlow finished fourth (23.98) and Newsom seventh (24.47).
Michaela Lewis added to the point total with a conference championship in the 1500-meter run, finishing atop the leaderboard in a time of 4:42.79, while Shamia Jones finished fourth in a time of 4:55.51. They were joined by Jamila Thomas in eighth in a time of 4:59.95 to close out the points in the race. Kyana Evans claimed the conference championship in the 400-meter dash with a time of 54.11 seconds, finishing ahead of Tatyana McKenzie of UAPB (54.54), while Vinnelle Grant finished fourth (56.15) and Newsom sixth (56.99).
Evans and Jasmyn Joseph scored in the 400-meter hurdles with Evans finishing seventh (1:07.32) and Joseph eighth (1:08.84), respectively. In field competition, Kristen Thompson finished seventh in the discus with a distance of 43.32 meters, while Taranique Alexander tied for fourth in the high jump with a clearance of 1.51 meters.
Meanwhile, on the men’s side, Alabama State finished second with 165 points finishing behind Prairie View A&M with 204 points. They finished ahead of Jackson State in third, followed by Texas Southern, and UAPB.
Caesar Kemp captured his second conference title in as many days, finishing atop the leaderboard in the discus with a throw of 51.07 meters — more than three meters better than his closest competitor. He was joined atop the medal stand by the 4×100-meter relay team with a time of 40.60 seconds, finishing ahead of Alcorn State (41.12) and Prairie View A&M (41.19). David East stood atop the medal stand in the 100-meters with a time of 10.16 seconds, finishing just ahead of Bralon Robinson of Alcorn State (10.20) and teammate Matthew Clarke in third with a time of 10.25 seconds. Mason Foster also scored for Alabama State in the 100-meters, finishing seventh in a time of 10.64 seconds.
Alabama State claimed the top two spots in the 800-meters with Ricky Thornton claiming the conference crown in a time of 1:54.38, finishing just ahead of Kevin Smith in a time of 1:54.40. Clarke finished atop the medal stand in the 200-meters with a time of 20.69 seconds, just ahead of East who finished second in a time of 20.93 seconds. Foster also scored in the event, finishing seventh in a time of 21.84 seconds.
Abdi Hussein finished second in the 1500-meters for the Hornets in a time of 4:00.30, finishing just behind Jernal Wote of Prairie View A&M (3:58.75). He also finished second in the 5000-meters with a time of 15:51.28 — just behind Wote (15;45.93). Meanwhile, Ulyesses Grace finished third to reach the medal stand in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.13 seconds. He finished just behind Loftin Keys, Jr. (13.91) and Christian McNair-Jones (14.10) of Jackson State.
Marcus Cade scored points in five different events as he finished fifth in the jump with a clearance of 1.98 meters and fifth in the triple jump with a distance of 14.44 meters. He also finished sixth in the pole vault with a height of 3.45 meters. Meanwhile, Daniel Bayeshea finished fifth in the discus with a throw of 41.82 meters, while Cedric Jones finished fourth in the pole vault with a height of 3.95 meters
The 4×400-meter relay team finished fourth overall in a time of 3:16.36 to wrap up the event.