SHAWNEE, Okla. — Day two of the Great American Conference Track and Field Championships has been finalized and the Muleriders saw some impressive feats in the outing. The heptathlon and decathlon have progressed even further while also seeing finals take place in many more track and field events.
The Mulerider Men are now placed fourth in the team scores with 32 points and are just one point back of East Central in third-place. Rising in the ranks and looking to make a day three push are the Mulerider Women with the group being placed in second after a huge day two at the conference-wide meet.
For the Men, Garrett Hughes leads the way for Southern Arkansas in the decathlon as the sophomore has currently recorded 4,945 points (9th) and has placed 2nd in the 100m (11.27), 6th in the long jump (6.13m), 7th in the shot put (9.81m), 4th in the high jump (1.70m), 1st in the 400m (51.15), 8th in the discus (27.97m), 9th in the pole vault (2.64m), 9th in the javelin (34.38m), and 1st in the 1500m (4:38.44). The decathlon requires just one more event as the group still has the 110m hurdles.
In the field for men, Derrick Onyeador claimed a spot as an All-GAC First Team member with his performance in the long jump after leaping out for 7.32m and finalizing the event in second place. Jakeylon Jones recorded a spot on the All-GAC Second Team after placing fourth in the event with his distance of 7.16m.
Claiming an outright Great American Conference Championship and a First Team honor in the league was Jason Patrick after the junior placed first in the hammer throw with his distance of 58.61m for a new personal and school record while also having the third furthest toss in GAC history.
The lone track event to be wrapped up for the day was the 3000m steeplechase, in which saw Isaac Gass claim a All-GAC First Team honor with his finish in second place and a final time of 9:18.03, which is a new personal record
For the heptathlon, Anaya Ervin led the way for the Mulerider Women with a fourth-place overall finish after placing 6th in the 100m hurdles (15.92), 7th in the high jump (1.41m), 2nd in the shot put (11.88m), 5th in the 200m (26.40), 6th in the long jump (4.98m), 1st in the javelin (33.29m), and 3rd in the 800m (3:37.30). With her fourth-place finish, Ervin claims the title of All-GAC Second Team.
In the women's long jump, Diamond Brunn finished with an All-GAC First Team membership after the junior recorded a leap of 5.87m to place second in the event.
Finishing as the shot put champion was senior thrower Irieyanna Wilson as the native of Allen, Texas put the shot out 14.22m and placed first in the event while nearly breaking her own school record of 14.27m. Claiming a spot as an All-GAC Second Team member was Kailyn Thomas as the senior recorded a throw of 13.27m to place fourth.
The duo both earned an All-GAC First Team title in the hammer throw after Thomas recorded a throw of 52.77m for a second-place spotting and Wilson accounted for a heave of 45.64m to place third.
Logan Warren clinched a Second Team All-GAC title on day two as the senior finished 6th in the 3000m steeplechase with her personal best time of 11:26.16.
Southern Arkansas looks to see more improvement for championship Friday as the group looks to claim more outright titles and all-conference honors.
