SLC Indoor Championships Results - Day One

SLC Indoor Championships Heat Sheets - Day Two

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Feb. 15, 2015

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Jannika John took first place in the 5000-meter race, and followed that with a gutsy run in the distance medley to help the Lamar track and field teams position themselves in a tremendous day one of the Southland Conference Championships on Monday at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

John's 16:36.01 meet and school record time was first of a sweep of the medal stand in the 5000-meter race. Senior Leigh Lattimore finished second on a 16:47.92 mark and Evelyn Chavez was third with a 17:10.04 time.

"The 5K going 1-2-3 was exactly what we were hoping for, and it was a huge lift," said head track and field coach Trey Clark. "On top of that Jannika stepped up for us in the distance medley relay. We had one of athletes go down with an injury and she volunteered to race. She was the lead leg and got us a huge lead. We were in front wire-to-wire."

John helped the women's distance medley team take gold on an 11:47.06 time. She was joined by JaLana Owens, Alexandra Sokolova and the anchor Minttu Hukka. The next closest team to LU was Stephen F. Austin who finished over 14 seconds later.

Soon after the men's distance team took first place on a 10:05.88 time. Stuart Ferugson, TaMar Hicks, Trey Davis and Sam Stabler combined to edge Abilene Christian, which marked at 10:07.63.

"The men's DMR was very much cluttered," said Clark. "Our goal was to get Sam Stabler the baton within striking distance, and that's what we did. We feel like he is the best miler in the league, and he just needed to pass a couple of runners to take first."

Just before the DMRs shot off, Alex Dunbar claimed silver in the men's 5000-meter race on a 14:34.83 time and Jan Lukas Becker followed him for bronze with a time of 14:41.98.

"We did everything we could do in day one. We used everything we had, and we closed out strong," said Clark.

The DMR event was the last event to race on the day, and the 5000-meter run was just before that. All told, Lamar won four of the six stand spots available in the 5K and took first in both distance medleys.

"With any meet, you have positives and negatives, fortunately today we had a lot of positives," said Clark. "We closed with momentum, but now we have to regroup and finish it out tomorrow."

The women are in a tie for second place in the point totals after five events were scored on the day. Both Stephen F. Austin and Lamar have 34 points, and trail Sam Houston State by nine points. The men are in a tie for third place with Northwestern State for 26 points after six events were scored.

Verity Ockenden qualified for the finals in two events, the mile and 800-meter runs. Her 5:01.76 time in the mile run earned her first place in her heat and 2:14.77 time in the 800-meter gave her second place in the heat.

Hukka and Louise Webb also moved on to the finals in the mile, Hukka timed in a 4:56.04 and Webb at 5:02.36. Sokolova advanced in the 800-meter run with a mark of 2:18.55.

"On the women's side, we advanced everybody that we felt we should, and everyone is in position to score points," said Clark. "The men's side had about 95 percent of the guys we thought would move on."

The mile run proved big on the men's side too and had four Cardinals move on to the finals. Sam Stabler put a time of 4:17.88 up, Tobias Riker marked in a 4:17.94, Stuart Ferguson timed at 4:21.20 and Federico Gasbarri advanced on a 4:17.94 interval.

Chanissey Fowler qualified for the finals in the 60-meter dash with a 7.63 time, fourth in her heat. That time was a season and personal best for her.

"Chanissey was not ranked going in, so she stole a spot from someone as a freshman, which is huge," said Clark.

Dominique Taylor moved on after a second place finish in her heat and time of 8.79.

Brian O'Bonna had a seventh place finish, and won his flight, in the men's long jump on a 22' 9.75'' mark. His personal best mark netted the Cardinals two points.

"Everything is about advancing, and we got a lot of people through," said Clark. "We still have a lot of work do for (Tuesday), but we feel pretty confident."

Tuesday opens up for Lamar with Deja Phillips in the women's triple jump at 11 o'clock. The women's 60-meter hurdles, which features Taylor, will start at noon, and Fowler will run approximately at 12:20 in the 60-meter dash.

The intermediate and distance runs start with the women's mile run at 1:15. Follow the meet with a live stream and live results at Southland.org.

Men's Team Standings (through six events) 1. Stephen F. Austin 52.0 2. Sam Houston State 34.0 T3. Northwestern State 26.0 T3. Central Arkansas 26.0 T3. Lamar 26.0 6. Southeastern Louisiana 23.0 7. Abilene Christian 16.0 8. McNeese State 15.0 9. UIW 9.0 10. A&M-Corpus Christi 6.0 11. Houston Baptist 1.0

Women's Team Standings (through five events) 1. Sam Houston State 43.0 2. Stephen F. Austin 34.0 3. Lamar 34.0 4. Northwestern State 17.0 T5. Houston Baptist 12.0 T5. UIW 12.0 7. Abilene Christian 10.0 8. New Orleans 8.0 9. Central Arkansas 7.0 T10. Southeastern Louisiana 6.0 T10. Nicholls 6.0 12. McNeese State 5.0 13. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 1.0