ULM features four top five finishers in jumping events

At the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships last year ULM crowned six champions.

That represented the most the track and field team had taken in over 20 years.

With all five of the individual champions returning, inlcuding three out of four on the 4X400 relay team, coach J.D. Malone expressed high confidence for the team this season.

“My expectation is that we will represent ULM well on the national level. Our team will battle hard to be a contendor in the Sun Belt Conference,” Malone said.

That confidence was born out Friday with top-five finishes in the field events and strong running performances inside Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.

After the day was over the men placed eight overall and the women 14th.

On the men’s side junior Jemal Parharm earned a silver medal with a jump of 7.06 m while senior Corey Wesley flew for 7.00 m to earn bronze.

On the women’s side reigning Outddor Sun Belt Champion Adriunna Brown lept for 5.58 m to finish in the top-five.

Her personal record stands at 6.06 m.

Rounding out the top-five finishes in field events junior Jevaughn Shaw fired a 14.39m throw in men’s javelin to finish fifth.

Scoring a point in the weight throw was junior Alton Clay Jr. with a toss of  15.36m.

The running events were highlighted by a top-eight finish in the 200m dash by senior Andrew Tate. He blazed through the event with a time of 21.93.

Freshman Levaughn Battick nearly cracked the top eight in the 60m hurdles falling just .02 seconds away with a time of 8.35.

On the women’s side junior Brittany Garrison had the top finish overall in her respective 800m event dashing two laps around the track in 2:24.77.

Her time led her to an 11th place finish.

In long distance senior Chris Silva continued to build upon the success he had in his last cross country meet setting a new personal record in the men’s 3000m.

He led the ULM men with a time of 9:00.87 to finish 15th out of 25 runners.

Freshman Elias Keter was right behind with a top-20 time of 9:12.28.

Fellow freshman Sebie O’Neil led the men’s mile for ULM stopping the clocks at 4:33.83 for a top-20 finish.

In women’s distance senior Rebecca Dark continued to lead the way with a top-25 mile time of 5:50.83.

Elsewhere around the track ULM racked up several top-25 finishes.

Freshman Tyler Taylor registered a 12th place finish in the men’s 60m dash with a time of 7.03.

Also garnering a 12th place finish was senior Ariel Cain in the 60m hurdles with a personal record of 9.18.

In the men’s 400m freshman Andre Johnson streaked through with a time of 51.65 to earn a top-25 finish.