For the second consecutive year, both the Sam Houston State men and women’s track and field programs captured the Southland Conference Indoor Championship title at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Alabama.
Thursday’s victory marks the fifth SLC Championship title for the women’s team and the second for the men since the program began. The men’s team also broke last season’s record by more than 20 points, with 142.5 points while the women accumulated 127.
Trailing behind the women’s team in second was Lamar University with 97 points and Northwestern State in third with 96. On the men’s side, McNeese took second place with 120 points and Stephen F. Austin landed in third with 117.5.
Both the SHSU men’s and women’s teams concluded day one of the meet in second place, and trailed first place by only a couple sports. The women were only four points behind Lamar with 32 points while the men trailed McNeese by 7.5 points with 44.5.
However, the men’s team had moved into first place by the middle of day two thanks to three of the four Bearkats in the 60-meter hurdles finishing within the top five. Junior Tyler Adams finished in first with 8.41 seconds while sophomore Dylan Elliot came in fourth with 8.75 seconds. Senior Jay Robinson also competed in the event and finished fifth at 8.79 seconds.
The women continued to trail behind Lamar until the second to last event. In the 3000-meter run, senior Olivia Olguin and sophomore Hannah Tarrant were up against 33 competitors, but both runners finished within the top 15. Olguin finished eighth at 10:04.73 while Tarrant came in 12th with a time of 10:20.02.
Two athletes on the men’s team walked away with numerous records. Senior Jay Roberson broke a CrossPlex and SLC record in pole vault with a vault 17 feet, 2 ¾ inches while Adams scored his third straight indoor pentathlon gold and personals best in the event with 5,463 points.
Outdoor season will begin in three weeks with a two day event starting March 17 at the University of Texas at San Antonio Invitational in San Antonio.
