MAGNOLIA, Ark. - Harding's men and women both lead after Friday's competitions of the 2018 Great American Conference Track & Field Championships from Southern Arkansas’ Mulerider Track & Field Complex.
The men totaled 55 points, 16 clear of Oklahoma Baptist, with Southern Arkansas in third with 29 points and East Central in fourth. The Lady Bisons hold a five-point advantage on Oklahoma Baptist. SAU sits in third with 23 points, three ahead of Oklahoma Christian.
Harding’s James Howard claimed the decathlon title by almost 200 points. He won the 100-meter dash, high jump, 400, 110 hurdles and discus competitions. The Lady Bisons’ Kaylin Turley took home first place in the heptathlon. Ahead by 11 points entering the final event, the 800-meter run, she turned in the fastest time to finish with a 157-point triumph.
In the meet’s first field events, East Central’s Dilland Gardner won the discus and Saleem Fadel finished atop the podium in the hammer with an NCAA provisional mark of 56.03 meters. In the women’s competitions, SAU’s T’Keyah Crockett produced a meet-record toss of 43.14 meters in the discus and Oklahoma Baptist’s Julianna Horner established a meet record in the hammer with a winning throw of 47.76 meters.
The Bisons’ Nehemia Too lowered his NCAA provisional time and personal best en route to winning the 3000-meter steeplechase in a time of 9:08.89. Harding also took first in the women’s race as Alicja Minczuk won by more than four seconds.
In the final event of the night, the 10,000-meter run, Oklahoma Baptist’s Abby Hoover and Harding’s Lucas Goodspeed claimed top honors. Hoover shattered the meet record by more than one minute and Goodspeed held off Rogers State’s Seth Whittington to win by less than one second.
The lack of daylight forced the javelin competition to be delayed to 9 a.m. on Saturday. The regularly scheduled events begin at 10 a.m. with the shot put, long jump and high jump. At noon, the running events open with the 400-meter relay and the field events conclude with the pole vault and triple jump.
The other running events include the the 1500-meter run, the 100- and 110-meter hurdles, the 400-meter dash, the 100-meter dash, the 800-meter run, the 400-meter hurdles, the 200-meter run, the 5000-meter run and the 1600-meter relay.
SAU will provide
live stats and
live streaming of the competition.