MT Lands 13 Top-Five Finishes on Day One of Bulldog Invite

Photo by: Emily Cole/MT Athletic Communications

2/11/2022 6:09:00 PM | Men's Cross Country and Track & Field, Women's Cross Country and Track & Field, Track & Field/Cross Country

By: Braydin Sik, MT Athletic Communications

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Blue Raiders continue to improve on their Conference USA-best USTFCCCA Track and Field Rating with 13 top-five finishes on Friday, including four first-place finishes.

Field Events
Omamuyovwi Erhire continues to take first place in the men's triple jump, this week hitting a length of 15.53m. Erhire's 15.53m would rank third in the conference heading into the weekend, 0.16m behind his first-place jump from a month ago.

Esther Isa took first place again in the high jump on Friday. In her final round, Isa reached a height of 1.79m which ties her season-best from the PNC Lenny Lyles Invitational from two weekends ago. Her jump was also a Samford Invite record and keeps her in second for the women's high jump rankings in Conference USA.

Track Events
The first first-place finisher of the day for the Blue Raiders was Eusila Chepkemei in the women's 800 meter with a time of 2:09.24, just six seconds off of the Blue Raider indoor record. Her latest finish was a personal best and would rank first in Conference USA going into the weekend.

The freshman Alaba Akintola is bursting onto the scene this season previously running a 6.73s 60m dash earlier this week at the USA Jaguar Invitational. Akintola tied the number one time in C-USA in the semifinals today with a time of 6.70s and later on set the new number one mark with a personal-best time of 6.67s, good enough for a second-place finish in the finals.

Vincent Yegon and Habtamu Geta teamed up in the men's 3000m finishing in first and second with times of 8:20.76 and 8:25.42 respectively.

Senior Brian Rono took second in the men's mile with a season best time of 4:14.39, while Caitlin Cunningham took third in the women's mile with a personal best time of 5:03.24.

Two Blue Raiders finished in the top three for the women's 3000m. Joice Jebor took second with a time of 9:56.08 and Naomy Limatukei took third with a time of 9:58.12.

At the end of the day, the Blue Raiders took part in 4x400 relays for the first time this season. The women's quad of Lyn'Nikka Vance, Quanisha Marshall, Chepkemei, and Glory Nyenke took second with a time of 3:48.79, good enough for second in Conference USA this season. The men's lineup of Michael Fuqua, Stephen Eloji, Darian Jones, and Connor Ono took second with a time of 3:20.10.

What's Next?
Day two of the Bulldog Invitational continues tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. CT.

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