MOBILE, Ala. — The South Alabama men’s track and field team finished third and the women placed fifth at the Sun Belt Conference track and field championships, held over the weekend in San Marcos, Texas.
The Jaguars produced six individual conference champions and 18 All-Conference performances from 17 athletes. South Alabama also set two school records and broke two conference championship meet records.
Men Climb Two Spots
The South Alabama men scored 132 points, trailing champion UT Arlington (145) and runner-up Western Kentucky (138). The finish was two places higher than the Jaguars’ result at last year’s championships, and the point total was a 52.5-point improvement.
The women’s team scored 87.5 points. Western Kentucky won the women’s title with 173 points.
Kotze Repeats in the Discus
Jan-Louw Kotze successfully defended his conference title in the men’s discus. Kotze threw 56.20 meters on his fourth attempt, more than three meters beyond the next-best mark in the 19-man field, and scored 10 points for the Jaguars.
Freshman Michael Pienaar earned All-Conference honors in the 10,000-meter run on Friday. On Sunday he won the 1,500-meter run in 3:49.93.
Beans Sets School Record
Freshman Kaitlyn Beans won the women’s triple jump with a leap of 13.19 meters on her fourth attempt. The jump set a South Alabama school record and was the best in the conference this season. It also improved her personal best by more than seven-tenths of a meter.
Six Conference Champions
In addition to Kotze, Pienaar and Beans, three other Jaguars won Sun Belt titles:
- Leah Hixon, women’s javelin
- Renaldo Frechou, men’s hammer throw
- Noelle Jones, heptathlon
Other All-Conference Performances
Connor Smith earned All-Conference honors for the second consecutive season, placing second in the pole vault at 5.02 meters.
Justin Housley finished third in the 800-meter run in 1:55.39 to earn All-Conference recognition.
Ravaughn Pope placed third in the 110-meter hurdles in a personal-best 14.17 seconds, the second-fastest time in school history, and earned All-Conference honors.
