Off to a tremendous start in the 2024 season, the Texas State track and field team looked to carry its momentum to the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama.
The championships took place over two days, beginning Monday, February 19, and ending Tuesday, February 20. The Bobcats sent 47 athletes and two relay teams to compete.
Day One
Texas State sophomore long jumper Chris Preddie continued his impressive showings in the men’s long jump, placing first with a 7.47-meter jump and walking away with the gold.
Sophomore thrower Elisabet Runarsdottir placed second in the women’s weight throw, tossing a personal best of 20.8 meters. She was 0.32 meters shy of tying junior Michelle Ogbemudia of Arkansas State, who placed first.
In a great display of effort, senior multis Mathilde Canet placed second in the women’s long jump. Mathilde recorded a 6.02-meter jump, barely missing the first-place mark of ULM’s Eunice Mbuyi at 6.04 meters.
Day Two
Texas State graduate student sprinter Daniel Harrold showed again why he is the Sun Belt Conference standard. Harrold ran a first-place time of 7.62 in the 60-meter hurdle event. Harrold’s time was a Sun Belt, personal and meet record.
The men’s 4×400 meter relay team consisting of graduate student sprinter Dominick Yancy, senior sprinter Shawn Collins, senior sprinter Brian West II and graduate student sprinter Avery Veiseh ran away with the gold medal. The team set a new meet record of 3:10.7 seconds, one-hundredth of a second faster than the previous record time.
Preddie achieved his second gold medal of the meet in the men’s triple jump event. His 15.54-meter jump was good for first place, a personal record and the sixth-best leap in school history.
Freshman multis Easton Hammond placed third in the men’s heptathlon, setting a personal best of 5,196 combined event points. This is the seventh-best point total in Texas State history.
Sophomore thrower Melanie Duron continued her dominance of the women’s shot put, placing first with an impressive throw of 16.76 meters.
Yancy dominated his competitors on his way to a gold medal in the 200-meter dash with a time of 20.93. Yancy placed second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.78.
A pair of Bobcats showed out in the men’s 400-meter dash. Placing first and taking gold was West II, with a time of 47.51. Collins was not far behind, placing second with a time of 47.67.
Yancy and Harrold have a chance to compete in the NCAA Indoor Finals. The meet will take place in Brighton, Massachusetts, on March 8-9.
