Prairie View, TX - The postseason got underway Thursday at the PVAM Track Stadium for the Southwestern Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships. The Jaguars find themselves in position to make a push for the championship on the final day.
Scoring started early for the Jaguars on the first day of action. With his first throw,
Keenan Villery launched his personal best of 54.84m to place him third in the javelin and give Southern their first six points of the meet.
An hour after the first event started,
Lafayette Collins would take part in his first 10,000m race. Collins would give the Jaguars another point when he finished with a time of 34:54.07 for an eighth-place finish.
The women did not take long to get on the board.
Alexandria McCoy started out slow, gradually increasing her distance with each throw. Stepping up on her fifth throw, McCoy launched the hammer a distance of 48.06m to finish second, giving the Lady Jaguars their first points of the meet.
Logan Lewis was able to add to the team total when she came up on her fourth throw and threw for 45.17m to finish sixth.
The final event of day one saw the Jaguars score more points in the men's hammer throw.
Char'Vares Wilson came in with a personal best of 39.97m. In his second throw, Wilson would come close to beating that mark at 39.95m and would destroy it with his throw of 43.16m on his fourth attempt. Wilson would finish in fifth and give Southern four more points.
Kolby Mathews get his longest throw of the day on his fourth attempt. He would send the hammer 37.5m for a seventh-place finish.
Day one would end with both teams sitting in fourth. The men had a total 13 points and the women had 11 at the end of the day.
Day two started with the Lady Jaguars securing more points.
Karanay Alexander used personal best in the 100m hurdles (14.88), high jump (1.43m), shot-put (10.1m) and javelin (33.14m) to secure a sixth-place finish in the heptathlon.
The scoring did not stop there for the Lady Jaguars. In the next event, women shot-put, Lewis came up big with her third throw. Counting a distance of 13.1m, Lewis was able to place just outside the podium in fourth but giving her team five more points.
The Jaguars found more points in the men's shot-put. Scoring points on day one, Wilson and Villery would come back and finish fourth and fifth to give Southern 9 more points combined. Wilson would have a distance of 14.49m, while Villery had a distance of 14.25m.
Garrick Breaux would set a new personal best distance of 12.66m
The women were not going to be outdone by their counterparts. This time the javelin produced 10 points for the Lady Jaguars.
Uzuri Graves would come with a massive launch of 38.87m on her second attempt for a third-place finish. After setting her personal best earlier in the day in the heptathlon, Alexander would come out and improve her distance with each throw until she broke her record with a distance of 34.29m to finish in fifth.
Preliminaries for the running events started Friday afternoon and the Jaguars put themselves in a position to vie for a conference title.
Tallan James came into the championships with the 15th best time in SWAC for the 1500m run. He was able to move up a few spots to give him a chance to score points in the finals. James finished with a personal best time of 4:05.04 to finish tenth.
The 100m hurdles was up next for the women.
Jada Chevalier won her heat, automatically qualifying her for the finals. Her time of 14.32 was good enough for third out of four heats. In the men's 110m hurdles,
Jordan Thompson continued to showcase his speed. Thompson would come out and win the second heat to finish second overall with a time of 14.61.
Terrell Chevalier and
Devin Sowell would set new personal bests with times of 15.12 and 15.17.
A'nijah Williams would come out blistering the track in the 400m. Her time of 55.16 would give her not only the best time of the preliminaries but would also give her a new personal best and the top time in the SWAC all season.
Shani Simon would also set a new PR with a time of 57.4.
Kason Jones would give the men another chance to score points with a win in his heat with a time of 47.75.
Conference favorite in the 100m,
Trinity Bolden had not run in a meet since April 9. That did not slow her down as she won her heat with a time of 11.91.
Kennedy Pedro would end up just outside the qualifying positions but still registered a new personal best of 12.03. Joining Pedro with a new PR,
A'niya Galloway ran a 12.28.
DeAnthony Nervis was the long Jaguar to run the 100m on the men's side. He gave Southern another chance to score more points in the finals. His time of 10.55 put him as the second fastest runner to not win a heat.
Another conference favorite,
Nicholas Scott was looking to win the 800m in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. His time of 1:52.55 was the fastest of all runners.
Rushane Miller will give the Jaguars a second point scorer in the event. He finished as the fastest of the non-heat runners. His personal best time of 1:52.97 was the second fastest in the preliminaries.
Thompson would come back and qualify for his second finals in the 400m hurdles. His heat winning time of 54.07 was the fastest of all qualifiers.
Ta'Cardrick Alexander would give the Jaguars another opportunity to score multiple points. He ran a 54.93 to set a new personal record.
Setting a new personal best, Pedro would find herself in another heartbreaking position in the 200m. Her time of 24.65 would finish her in 10th. Nervis would come back and leave no doubt on how fast he is. His time of 20.71 was the top qualifier in a field of 31 and set a new PR. Levi Matthews would set his own record with a time of 22.61.
The Jaguars and Lady Jaguars both sit in fifth place after the second day. The Jaguars have 22 points, while the Lady Jags have 26. The men will have 17 more chances to score points on the final day. Six will be in the field and the other 11 on the track. The women will have 10 more chances with five being in throws and five on the track.
Running events on Saturday will now start at 10:30 a.m. with the women's 4x100. The schedule has been revised due to student-athlete welfare concerns based upon reports that the heat index for tomorrow will be near 105 degrees.
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