Championship Central | Results | Photos
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Entering the final day of the 2019 American Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships in sixth place, the Houston men won six events and recorded 13 podium finishes on the way to winning their fifth-straight indoor conference title with 159.5 points on Saturday at the Birmingham CrossPlex. With the Houston women winning their first indoor title, it marked the second time the Cougars have swept the track and field championships after both teams claimed the 2018 outdoor titles in Cincinnati.
Houston senior sprinter Mario Burke earned The American’s 2019 Men’s Most Valuable Indoor Performance award after collecting the most points (18.5) in the meet. Burke won the 60-meter dash and ran as part of Houston’s record-setting 4x400-meter relay team. He also placed second in the 200-meter dash. Tulsa redshirt freshman Scott Beattie had two runner-up finishes, coming in second place in both the 3,000 and 5,000-meter runs to take home the conference’s Freshman of the Year award. Houston earned the Staff of the Year award for winning the title.
Wichita State finished second place with 107 points. Memphis finished one point behind the Shockers in third place with 106. The Shockers and Tigers finished in the top three for a second-straight year. Each of the men’s Saturday field winners repeated in their respective events, as eight returning indoor champions successfully defended their titles on Saturday. In total, the men set five American Athletic Conference meet records over the weekend.
Houston sprinter Kahmari Montgomery once against stole the spotlight, as the senior reclaimed the 400—meter dash title and had the most impressive performance of the meet. Running the fastest 400m time in the world this year, Montgomery bettered his meet and facility record after clocking 45.04 seconds. Montgomery, who held the fastest CrossPlex and American record entering the meet, ran the two-lap sprint 1.72 seconds faster than the 2019 runner-up and teammate Jermaine Holt who finished in 46.76 seconds. Memphis’ Newton Lee placed third with his time of 46.79 seconds. Houston freshman Frederick Lewis finished fifth (47.44 seconds) to put three Cougars in the top five.
Three more Houston athletes also took top-five spots in the 60-meter hurdles. The Cougars’ seven-time American champion Amere Lattin claimed his third-straight indoor title with his time of 7.84 seconds. It marked the fifth-straight year Houston has taken home the 60m hurdles title. Junior transfer Arthur Greenlee IV of Cincinnati earned his first American podium finish in second place (7.91 meters). Houston’s Devion Wilson and Quivell Jordan finished third and fourth, respectively, as Cincinnati’s Connor Duricky rounded out the top five. Two freshmen UConn hurdlers in Konstantin Rust and Tomi Alao advanced to the finals to bring home points for the Huskies.
Houston continued to dominate the sprinting events as five of the eight finalists in the 60-meter dash were Cougars. Mario Burke kept the streak going for Houston, which has won the event in each of the conference’s six championships. Burke reclaimed his title, clocking 6.62 seconds after winning in 2017 and finishing second place in last year’s meet. Memphis’ Davon DeMoss improved from his 2018 fourth-place finish, earning the runner-up spot with his time of 6.68 seconds. Travis Collins of Houston placed third (6.72 seconds), while teammate Nicholas Alexander finished fourth (6.73 seconds).
The Cougars also swept the podium for the 200-meter run en route to brining the event title back to Houston for a third-straight year. Six Houston sprinters advanced to Saturday’s finals. Nine-time All-American Obi Igbokwe placed first with his time of 20.84 seconds—only 0.11 seconds off from Cameron Burrell’s meet record set in 2017. Burke and Alexander each returned to the podium after finishing second and third place, respectively. DeMoss clocked a time of 21.23 seconds to finish in fourth place for the Tigers.
Houston, which owns the No. 1 4x400m relay time in the country, won the final relay event for second-straight year, bettering their meet-record time set in 2018. The Cougars’ squad of Lewis, Quivell Jordan, Burke and Jermaine Holt ran the fastest time in conference history (3:09.99). Memphis, which won the 4x400m relay in 2017, placed second, as its relay squad consisted of DeMoss, Calvin Austin, Norment and Lee. Wichita State’s team of Adam Gauzy, Jace Coppoc, Kaden Griffin and Austin Corley took the third podium spot.
The same top-three finishers from Friday’s 5,000-meter run also finished one, two and three in the 3,000 meter run. Tulsa senior Benjamin Preisner picked up his seventh all-time American Athletic Conference title, winning his second-straight 3,000m with his time of 8:15.76. Teammate Beattie picked up a second runner-up finish, while Cincinnati’s Aaron Bienenfeld clinched third place with his time of 8:18.05. Cincinnati, UConn, Memphis and Tulsa each had multiple athletes in the top eight.
Wichita State’s Ben Johnson carried his momentum from Friday’s events into Saturday’s final competitions, becoming the third athlete in conference history to win the indoor heptathlon. Johnson finished with a meet-record 5,705 points. Two-time Heptathlon champion and former American record holder, Nathaniel Mechler of Houston, was this year’s runner-up with 5,508 points. Wichita State had a strong presence in the multi events with Jake Horsch placing third (5,338 points). Damien Berthenet of Cincinnati and Benjamin Grosse of UConn rounded out the top five, respectively. Johnson won the heptathlon 60m hurdles and pole vault on Saturday. His time of 8.23 seconds in the 60m hurdles was a meet record.
After winning The American’s indoor shot put title as a freshman in 2016, Houston senior Felipe Valencia reclaimed the gold medal in 2019 with his top toss of the day traveling 18.39 meters on his second attempt. Each of Valencia’s tosses bested the field, as he was the only athlete to reach at least 18.14 meters on every attempt. Adam Neelly of Memphis was a podium finisher in the indoor shot put in 2018 and finished second place with his best throw of 18.10 meters. Sam Meece of Cincinnati, who won the weight throw on Friday, earned his second podium finish of the meet, finishing third with his top distance of 17.81 meters. Another Bearcat scored in the shot put with Marcus Abraham reaching 17.71 meters on his fifth attempt to take third place.
Memphis’ Jordan Wesner also returned to defend a title, as the senior high jumper cleared an American meet-record height of 2.22 meters to take home his second American gold medal. Wesner entered the meet ranked No. 8 in the nation and won the indoor American title in 2017. Teammate Noah Agnew cleared a personal-best height of 2.15 meters to place second. Two Cincinnati and Houston jumpers scored in the event with Brendon Rivera of Houston and Albert Kalala of Cincinnati tying for third place after both of them cleared 2.11 meters on their second attempts.
Wichita State senior Zack Penrod repeated in the mile, running 4:16.58, including a 2.01.5 final 800-meter dash, to take home his second-straight gold medal in this event. UConn’s Kyle Barber, who improved from a sixth-place finish in last year’s conference race, was this year’s mile runner-up. Under 24 hours after winning his first DMR with Memphis, freshman Zach Wyatt ran for third-place in the mile. Two other mid-distance Shocker runners brought home points with top-eight finishes.
After finishing fifth in last year’s American indoor 800-meter run, UConn sophomore Tyler Gleen shaved time off his personal-record and registered a career-best run of 1:49.39. Gleen is the first Husky to capture the 800m men’s indoor title. Robert Tully of Tulsa finished second with his time of 1:50.49. Wichita State’s Penrod returned to the track to pick up his second podium finish of the day after winning the mile, coming in third place in the 800m (1:50.58).
Another Husky stood atop the podium when senior Malik Snead repeated in the triple jump. Snead was 0.03 meters off from his season-best jump after clearing 15.75 meters on his fifth attempt to clinch his second title. Wichita State’s Jared Belardo earned his fifth American podium finishing, placing second with his distance of 15.58 meters. Memphis senior Olushola Olojo, who took home The American’s 2017 indoor triple jump title, finished third place with his best jump coming on his final attempt (15.46 meters). For a second-straight day, the Shockers performed well in the jumps with Griffin and Rayvon Allen each registering top-eight finishes.
Men’s Teams Scores
1) Houston - 159.5
2) Wichita State - 107
3) Memphis - 106
4) Cincinnati - 95
5) Tulsa - 77
6) UConn - 76
7) USF - 25.5
8) ECU - 17
MEN’S MOST VALUABLE INDOOR PERFORMANCE
Mario Burke, Sr., Houston
MEN’S FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Scott Beattie, R-Fr., Tulsa
MEN’S INDOOR STAFF OF THE YEAR
Houston
All-Conference performers are top-three finishers in each event.