BEREA, Ky. The second and final session of the 2021 USA South Athletic Conference Track and Field Championship at Berea College concluded late Thursday morning with the Methodist men finishing in second place and the Monarch women in fifth place.
Thursday's opening-day session ended with the two Monarch teams in second place, trailing Piedmont College. The Lions would end Friday atop the men's and women's leaderboards, capturing both team titles.
Originally scheduled for a mid-morning start, the expectation of inclement weather in the afternoon pushed Day 2 to an early 8 a.m. start for all competitors.
In the field events, Methodist's throws group had a stellar Friday, which included nearly sweeping the men's hammer throw competition.
Though not capturing the individual title in the event, the Monarch men earned five of the eight scoring spots, led by
Jake Patterson's second-place throw of 39.37 meters (129 feet-2 inches) on the fourth of six attempts.
Nick Wiggins (24.67, 80-11) began a string of uninterrupted Monarchs in the final standings with a fourth-place throw that was a new personal record (PR). Each of the next three Monarchs --
Andrew Clark (23.47, 77-0),
Ja'Quez Elliott (22.85, 75-0) and
Romone Belk Jr. (19.91, 65-4) -- set new PRs in placing fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively.
Wiggins also added a PR in the shot put, unleashing a second-place throw of 11.57 meters (37-11.5) on his sixth and final attempt.
In the women's shot put it was Methodist's
Kodi Centry who saved her best for last, registering a new PR of 10.34m (33-11.25) on her final attempt to earn sixth place.
Over at the triple jump sand pit, Methodist picked up fourth- and fifth-place finishes from
Keyshaun Pete and
Isaiah Cuthrell, respectively. Pete set a PR with a leap of 12.05m (39-6.5) while Cuthrell hit the pit with a best jump of 11.85m (38-10.5). Both competitors registered the best leaps on their final of six attempts down the runway.
Methodist scored in the sprints on both the men's and women's side of the ledger, advancing runners from Thursday's preliminary rounds into their respective championship finals on Friday.
In the men's 100-meter dash,
Ethan Ward was fourth in 11.21 seconds with teammate
AJ Matthews in eighth with an 11.58 clocking.
Richard Staley and Matthews picked up points for the Monarchs in the men's 200m dash championship final. Staley was fifth in 22.95 seconds while Matthews (24.11) was eighth.
In the hurdles, Pete (17.60) placed second and
Cameron Schwartz (22.90) sixth in the men's 110m hurdles, and
Sarah Jackson (20.81) was sixth with a new PR in the women's 100m hurdles.
Jackson also added a seventh-place finish in the women's 400m hurdles championship final, crossing the finish in 1 minute, 26.15 seconds. She entered the final with a Thursday prelim time of 1:21.43, which is a PR for the freshman.
In the one-lap sprint around the oval,
Stephen Dukes (52.11) was fourth and Staley (53.54) eighth in the championship heat of the men's 400m dash. Both Monarchs had recorded PRs in Thursday's prelim heats and finished tenths of seconds away from equaling those times in the final.
Makayla Lawler,
Caroline Stubblefield, Dukes,
Austin Ezzell and
Drew Topoly racked up Methodist points in the mid- and distance events.
Dukes and Ezzell finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the men's 800m run. Dukes hit the finish in 1:59.93 with Ezzell nipping at his heels with a time of 2:00.23.
Lawler added another first-place finish to her championship meet haul -- having captured the women's 10,000m Thursday evening -- by winning Friday's 5,000m run. her time of 19:04.05 was 28 seconds ahead of the event runner-up. Stubblefield placed seventh in the event with a time of 20:43.56.
Earlier in the day, Lawler earned second place in the 1,500. Her time of 4:59.35 was less than two seconds behind the event winner.
Topoly competed in the men's 5,000, scoring a third-place finish for Methodist with his time of 15:57.15.
Three relay quartets added to the Methodist point totals Friday.
The foursome of
Thialen Broughton, Matthews,
Julian Jackson II and Ward raced to a second-place finish in the men's 4x100. Their time of 43.54 seconds was a season best for a Monarch team and on Friday trailed Piedmont's winning time by only 48/100ths of a second.
The men's 4x400 group of Staley, Ezzell,
William Gray and Dukes finished fourth (3:33.44), and the quartet of Jackson,
Chakalyn Patterson,
Madison Pompey and Lawler combined for a season-best time of 4:44.26 with their sixth-place finish in the women's 4x400.
The Methodist men accumulated 181 points over the two-day championship to earn second place behind Piedmont (266 pts.).
The Monarch women were fifth (61 pts) while Piedmont swept the trophies with 265 points.
Leading the postseason award parade for Methodist were Lawler and Cuthrell.
Lawler, with two first-place and one second-place finish at the championship meet, is the Co-Track Athlete of the Year for the women with Piedmont's Karla Cantrell. And Cuthrell -- third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishes -- is the Field Rookie Athlete of the Year.
Selected for the All-Sportsmanship teams from Methodist were
Madison Pompey (women) and
Stephen Dukes (men).
All-Conference Performers, Methodist
- First Team
- Second Team
- Third Team
