BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Brady Palen claimed his first American Athletic Conference high jump title, highlighting day one of the AAC Indoor Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
The junior from Beloit, Kan. put up one of the Shockers' three day-one podium performances, clearing a season-best 2.18m/7'1.75" to claim the first-ever AAC indoor high jump title in Shocker history and the first indoor conference men's high jump title since Kerry Graber won the Missouri Valley Conference title in 2013. His mark ranks 24
th in the nation this year.
Freshman
Luke Czarnecki joined Palen on the high jump podium, placing third with a 2.02m/6'7.5" clearance while simultaneously competing in day one of the heptathlon. He sits in fourth behind teammates
Adria Navajon (2
nd) and
Hudson Bailey (3
rd) after the first day of competition.
In the pentathlon,
Destiny Masters claimed two meet records on her way to her second-straight silver medal performance.
The junior from El Dorado, Kan. ran 8.40 in the pentathlon 60-meter hurdles an cleared 1.82m/5'11.5" in the pentathlon high jump to etch her name in the record books and went on to throw 12.09m/39'8" in the pentathlon shot put, jump 5.88m/19'3.5" in the pentathlon long jump and finish with a 2:36.10 in the pentathlon 800 meters for a total of 4,140 points. Rice's Eliza Kraule put up a meet record 4,335 points to win the pentathlon.
Kenisa Meyer scored a point for the Shockers with an eighth-place performance with 3,561 points.
Masters went on to score two more points in the open long jump (7
th; 5.83m/19'1.5") and qualify to the 60-meter hurdles final with a time of 8.53. She is also set to compete in the open high jump on day two, making nine total competitions she is entered in. Freshman
Kate Campos will join her in the hurdles final, running 8.59 in the prelim.
Junior
Chidera Okoro also scored points for the team in the long jump, placing fifth with a leap of 5.98m/19'7.5", her best-ever conference finish.
Creighton Camp recorded a big personal-best in the weight throw, throwing 17.44m/57'2.75" to place sixth after entering the competition seeded 10
th.
The Wichita State men scored eight points in the long jump, led by
Adria Navajon with a season-best 7.38m/24'2.5 to place fourth, followed by
Yuben Goncalves in sixth with a jump of 7.36m/24'1.75" and
Josh Parrish in eighth with a personal-best jump of 7.21m/23'8".
Three Shockers qualified to the men's 60-meter hurdles final with
Jaleel Montgomery running 8.00 and Navajon and Parrish both running 8.14.
Two Shockers raced into the 800 meters final with
Farrah Miller getting the big Q in the women's race with a time of 2:10.76 and
Jacob Meyers getting another auto qualifier in the men's race with a time of 1:53.93.
Adam Rzentkowski claimed one of tomorrow's 12 final spots in the mile, running 4:07.43 in the prelim.
The men' distance medley relay team of Meyers,
Trace Spires,
Brock Merz and Rzentkowski raced to a fourth-place finish with a time of 10:02.72, and the women's DMR team of
Lea Jerkovic,
Sydney Brown,
Audrey Parson and
Jenna Muma ran the sixth-fastest time in Shocker history (11:47.14) to finish fifth.
Joakim Genereux just missed the 400-meter final, placing 10
th but clocked the 10
th-fastest time in Shocker history with a personal-best 48.37.
The controversial call of the day came after the 5,000 meters, where
Lucy Ndungu got tripped up with a runner from SMU and got forced off the track to avoid a fall. The official chose to disqualify Ndungu for being out of lane and not making a quick enough effort to recover. The subjective decision cost Wichita State the five points she was originally award for her fourth-place finish, and her time of 16:28.32, which would have been the fifth-fastest time in Shocker history, was erased.
Both Shocker teams will continue to battle for a top-three team finish on day two.
MEN'S TEAM STANDINGS AFTER DAY ONE
1. Rice – 47
2. Tulsa – 37
3. South Florida – 36
4. Wichita State – 32
5. UTSA – 26
6. Charlotte – 23.5
7. Memphis – 17
8. North Texas – 11.5
9. East Carolina - 4
WOMEN'S TEAM STANDINGS AFTER DAY ONE
1. Charlotte – 39
2. SMU – 34
3. Rice – 32.5
4. Tulsa – 27
5. Wichita State – 19
6. UTSA – 18
7. South Florida – 17
8. Tulane – 16
9. East Carolina – 10
10. Memphis – 6
North Texas – 6
12. Temple – 4.5
13. Florida Atlantic – 3
