The Charlotte 49ers men's track and field team clinched the outdoor title to become Conference USA Champions Sunday, May 13, at Rice University's Wendel Ley Track.
This is the second time in three months the Niners have won the conference championship, after securing a 19.5-point victory at the indoor meet in February.
"I am very proud of both teams’ performances," Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Bob Olesen said. "We projected the men to win and the women to finish sixth, so nice job meeting and exceeding those expectations. With more all conference event performances and a couple of podium sweeps for the men, it was even more exciting than February's indoor championship"
Leading by 14 points with three events left in the men's competition, Tom Nobles, Mihret Coulter, Alex Cornwell and Aaron Gebhart gave the 49ers a commanding 39-point advantage. Nobles, Coulter and Cornwell swept the podium in the men's 5,000-meter final, while Gebhart added to the team tally with an eighth-place finish.
Nobles and Coulter claimed their second medal each in consecutive days, both in podium sweeps by the Niners, with Nobles finishing as the runner-up to Coulter in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Gebhart claimed bronze in that event.
Elsewhere on the track, the men's 4x400-meter relay team concluded the men's competition with a new school record time of 3:06.87. Nico Menzel, Ky-Mani Dula, Saadiq Sweezer and Jayon Woodard took home bronze, breaking the school record the quartet set earlier this season by nearly a quarter of a second.
Charlotte's 4x100-meter relay team of Christian Bass, Dula, Menzel and Woodard posted the fastest time in school history, taking home bronze in a time of 39.62.
Dula added a fifth-place finish in the 400m, registering a personal best time of 46.54, which is the second best in program history.
Anthony Richardson edged teammate Brian Kendrick in the 110-meter hurdles for fifth place. Richardson ran the sixth fastest time in school history at 14.261, while Kendrick's time of 14.263 ranks seventh.
Nolan Patrick (800m) and William Conner (1500) helped the teams with seventh-place finishes, while Bass (100m) and Travis Rogers (400-meter hurdles) crossed with points in eighth.
In the field, Markel Dalton claimed silver in the triple jump with a personal best mark of 15.72m (51' 7") improving on his fourth longest jump in school history.
Terrell Adams placed fourth in the shot put with a toss of 16.98m (55' 8.5"), while Tyler Hoag moved into fourth all-time with a fifth-place throw of 16.83m (55' 2.75'').
Southern Miss won the women's title with 131 points, while Charlotte tallied 74 points and registered a fourth-place finish.
Kayla Moore won the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 13.63, just one one-hundredth of a second off her personal best time.
Kiana Lee, Alex Council, Nyasia Daniels and Tajah Walston posted a time of 45.48 in the 4x100-meter relay, claiming bronze. Brittany Stanley earned bronze in the 1500m with a time of 4:27.97. Council sprinted to a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.62.
The field added a bronze medal when Jade Jordan leapt a distance of 12.82m (42' .75'') in the triple jump, improving her personal best distance, which ranks third all-time in 49er history.
The East Preliminaries take place May 24-26 at the University of South Florida Track and Field Stadium.
Read the complete story on the Charlotte 49ers website.