MT Fairs Well on Day One of C-USA Indoor Championships

men and women first place dmr cusa championship

2/19/2022 8:58:00 PM | Men's Cross Country and Track & Field, Women's Cross Country and Track & Field, Track & Field/Cross Country

Men and women set two new program records

By: Braydin Sik, MT Athletic Communications

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Middle Tennessee men's and women's track and field teams are primed for a day full of finals tomorrow after setting two program records on Saturday. The men sit in third place currently with 30 points and the women sit in sixth with 20 points after a day full of preliminaries.

Men's Day One Results
The men scored points from the high jump, long jump, and distance medley relay on Saturday, ending the day with 30 points in third, 24.5 points out of first.

Benjamin Onyekwelu was the first Blue Raider to earn a gold medal. Onyekwelu reached a length of 7.69 meters in the long jump in his lone competition of the day.

During the men's high jump, Omamuyovwi Erhire tied for the highest height of the day with 2.23 meters but earned second due to taking more jumps than the other jumper. Erhire's new personal best also replaces his program record from two years ago, adding .03 meters to the previous mark.

The men ended the night on a high note with a gold medal performance in the distance medley relay. Carmelo Cannizzaro, Darian Jones, Brian Rono, and Habtamu Geta ended the race with a time of 10:01.00, beating the second-place Rice by .21 seconds.

Women's Day One Results
The women sit in a great spot heading into day two with plenty of runners waiting to compete in their finals. They may be in sixth place currently, but they only sit 14 points away from first place after day one.

In the women's long jump, Lyn'Nikka Vance finished with bronze, hitting a mark of 5.93m. Akera Benton was not far behind with 5.90m, good enough for fifth place.

To end the night for the women, the distance medley relay team set a program record and C-USA meet record. The team of Joice Jebor, Glory Nyenke, Caitlin Cunningham, and Eusila Chepkemei shaved 6.5 seconds off the previous record set in 2016, with a time of 11:30.59.

Day One Qualifiers
Women's 60 Meter Preliminaries

Lyn'Nikka Vance, 7.43Q

Men's 60 Meter Preliminaries

Alaba Akintola, 6.71Q

Men's 60 Meter Hurdles Preliminaries

Stephen Eloji, 8.06Q

Men's 200 Meter Preliminaries

Alaba Akintola, 21.29q
Stephen Eloji, 21.68q

Women's 200 Meter Preliminaries

Glory Nyenke, 24.39q

Women's 400 Meter Preliminaries

Glory Nyenke, 54.62q

Men's 400 Meter Preliminaries

Connor Ono, 48.62q

Men's 800 Meter Preliminaries

Carmelo Cannizzaro, 1:55.16Q
Brian Rono, 1:53.84Q
Hillary Kimaiyo, 1:54.00q

Women's 800 Meter Preliminaries

Eusila Chepkemei, 2:11.34Q
Francisca Jebor, 2:13.80q

Women's One Mile Preliminaries

Eusila Chepkemei, 4:55.79Q

Men's One Mile Preliminaries

Hillary Kimaiyo, 4:11.33Q

Day Two Necessities
Conference USA Championship Site
Meet Program
Meet Results
Watch Link

Follow Your Blue Raiders
Keep up with Blue Raider track & field on Facebook (Middle Tennessee Blue Raider XC/Track & Field), Twitter (@MT_TrackField), and Instagram (@mt_trackfield).