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HOUSTON - Annette Echikunwoke successfully defended her hammer throw title at the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships Friday afternoon to lead the first day of competition for the University of Cincinnati track and field program at the annual meet being contested at the Carl Lewis Track & Field Complex in Houston. Echikunwoke and Anthony Car in the men's 10,000m run were the lone point scorers for the Bearcats on the first day that also saw another impressive display from Alex Bloom in the decathlon and a trio of athletes finding success in the women's heptathlon.
// EARLY TEAM STANDINGS
The first day of competition has two events scored - the 10,000m run and the hammer - with both teams scoring points in one event each. On the women's side, the Bearcats sit fourth overall with 10 points with UCF (19), UConn (14) and host Houston (11) rounding out the Top 3 in the standings. The UC men have tallied four points and sit sixth overall with Tulsa (26), East Carolina (21) and UConn (13) sitting in the Top 3.
// ANNETTE GOLDEN AGAIN
Echikunwoke, despite not having her best day in the ring, still managed to record the top mark of the day in the hammer throw final, sending the ball out to 60.79m (200-00) on her fifth-round attempt to secure her second American championship of the season after taking the weight throw indoors back in February. With the win, Echikunwoke also successfully defended the hammer crown she won last year in Orlando. The victory also earned 10 points for the team in what figures to be a tight race throughout.
// CAR GRABS POINTS
Car had a strong showing in the 10,000m run as he lead the first 19 laps of the race before slipping to sixth and battling back to take fifth place. He ran the 25-lap event in 31:46.21, which was just four seconds off his personal best. With his finish in the race, he collected four points for the team.
// BLOOM BLISTERS DAY ONE
Bloom continues to impress as he once again took center stage in the decathlon with three more personal-best marks on the day, including a first-day score of 4,034 points, the most in program history. The first man to break the 4,000-point barrier in the decathlon, Bloom opened the day by running 11.04 to pick up 852 points in the 100m dash. He followed that up with a grand display in the long jump and he jumped out to 7.33m (24-00.75) on his second of three attempts to win the event and grab 893 more points. His long jump mark not only is a personal-best, it also broke several records, including the school decathlon long jump, conference meet decathlon long jump and conference overall decathlon long jump record all at once. The previous mark for the program as set by Bloom's coach, Chris Wineberg, at 7.27m, while the previous conference marks were 7.26m. Bloom then added 625 points with a toss of 12.31m (40-04.75) in the shot put before clearing 2.10m (6-10.75) for 896 points from the high jump. His high jump clearance was 1mm shy of the meet record of 2.11m. Bloom closed the day with a run of 51.03 in the 400m dash to collect 768 points and finish on top of the field with a 56-point improvement over his previous Day One score.
// LIGHTFOOT LEADS HEPTATHLON
The first four events of the heptathlon came to a close Friday afternoon with three UC women currently sitting in the Top 5 of the overall standings. Freshman Angelica Lightfoot is currently in the lead with 2,960 points, which is just one point off her all-time best from earlier this season, with Naomi Urbano - the indoor pentathlon champion - sitting third overall with 2,869 points and Maggie Loeffler in fifth with a first-day personal-best score of 2,777 points. All three ladies opened the day with a strong start in the 100m hurdles as each posted times that now rank in the program's all-time Top 10 with Lightfoot moving into the #6 spot at 14.90, Urbano up to #7 in 15.01 and Loeffler running 15.19 for the #10 spot.
Two of the ladies also posted another strong mark in the competition. Lightfoot threw a huge personal best mark of 12.23m (40-01.50) to go over the 40' mark for the first time in her career while moving all the way up to #2 in the program's heptathlon list, just missing the top mark, which is 12.24m, set by Kaitlyn Good in 2015. Her mark also broke the stadium heptathlon shot put record as well. Urbano grabbed the other superlative as she cleared 1.64m ( 5-04.50) to win the high jump portion of the heptathlon, a mark that is a heptathlon personal best for her and moves her up to #8 on the program's heptathlon Top 10 chart.
// MOVING ON
Three individuals competed in the preliminary round races in several running events Friday and did enough to advance to the final in their respective events. On the women's side, rookie Tiona Lattimore ran 23.94 to finish eighth overall and grab the final qualifying spot into the 200m dash final Sunday. On the men's side, Jaashir Morris ran 52.88 in the 400m hurdles to post the fourth-fastest time in the event and earn a berth into the Sunday final while Michael Vitucci posted a time of 1:52.04 in the 800m run to record the third-best time on the day and advance to the final.
// PERSONAL BESTS
A trio of individuals also took to the track and posted personal-best times in their races. Juliana Madzia took nearly 30 seconds off her life time best in the 10,000m run to finish in ninth-place with a time of 37:09.14, the eighth-fastest time in UC history. Grace Winckowski raced in the preliminary round of the 400m hurdles and ran 1:03.60 to match her personal best and the 10th-fastest time in program history. Finally, on the men's side, Jarrod Hart ran 1:52.49 in the 800m run to record a PR and place ninth overall, just one spot shy of making the final.
// IN THE BLOCKS
Action at the American Championships continues Saturday with the decathlon and heptathlon leading things off with the final five and three events, respectively.
2017 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships - Day 1 (5/12/17)
Women's Results
200m Dash - Prelims
8. Tiona Lattimore - 23.94 (+1.1) - qualifies to final
14. Haisha Bisiolu - 24.05 (-0.8)
400m Hurdles - Prelims
15. Grace Winckowski - 1:03.60 - =PR & =UC #10
800m Run - Prelims
14. Sammy Hentz - 2:14.89
10,000m Run - FINAL
9. Juliana Madzia - 37:09.14 - PR & UC #8
17. Tessa Ward - 38:59.19
Hammer - FINAL
1. Annette Echikunwoke - 60.97m (200-00) - CHAMPION - 10 points
15. Nicole Breeden - 48.76m (160-00)
Heptathlon - Day One
1. Angelica Lightfoot - 2,960 points
3. Naomi Urbano - 2,869 points
5. Maggie Loeffler - 2,777 points - PR
Hep #1 - 100m Hurdles
2. Angelica Lightfoot - 14.90 (-0.2) [855pts] - Hep PR & UC Hep #6
3. Naomi Urbano - 15.01 (+0.3) [840pts] - PR & UC Hep #7
5. Maggie Loeffler - 15.19 (+0.3) [817pts] - PR & UC Hep #10
Hep #2 - High Jump
1. Naomi Urbano - 1.64m (5-04.50) [783pts] - Hep PR & UC Hep #8
t2. Maggie Loeffler - 1.61m (5-03.25) [747pts]
4. Angelica Lightfoot - 1.58m (5-02.25) [712pts]
Hep #3 - Shot Put
1. Angelica Lightfoot - 12.23m (40-01.50) [676pts] - PR, UC Hep #2 & Stadium Hep Record
3. Naomi Urbano - 10.44m (34-03.00) [558pts]
4. Maggie Loeffler - 9.94m (32-07.50) [526pts]
Hep #4 - 200m Dash
3. Angelica Lightfoot - 26.94 (+1.0) [717pts]
5. Naomi Urbano - 27.29 (+1.0) [688pts]
6. Maggie Loeffler - 27.30 (+1.0) [687pts]
WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES - thru Day One
1. UCF - 19
2. UConn - 14
3. Houston - 11
4. CINCINNATI - 10
5. SMU - 8
6. Memphis - 5
6. Tulane - 5
8. Tulsa - 3
9. South Florida - 2
10. East Carolina - 1
Men's Results
400m Hurdles - Prelims
4. Jaashir Morris - 52.88 - qualifies to final
800m Run - Prelims
3. Michael Vitucci - 1:52.04 - qualifes to final
9. Jarrod Hart - 1:52.49 - PR
10,000m Run - FINAL
5. Anthony Car - 31:46.21 - 4 points
Spencer Clark - DNF
Hammer - FINAL
13. Macklin Tudor - 46.26m (151-09)
14. Chris Province - 45.66m (149-10)
15. Aaron Deaton - 44.64m (146-05)
Decathlon - Day One
1. Alex Bloom - 4,034 points - PR & UC RECORD
Dec #1 - 100m Dash
2. Alex Bloom - 11.04 (-0.8) [852pts] - =PR & UC Dec #6
Dec #2 - Long Jump
1. Alex Bloom - 7.33m (24-00.75) [893pts] - PR, UC Dec #1, Meet Dec Record & AAC Dec Record
Dec #3 - Shot Put
4. Alex Bloom - 12.31m (40-04.75) [625pts]
Dec #4 - High Jump
1. Alex Bloom - 2.10m (6-10.75) [896pts] - Stadium Dec Record
Dec #5 - 400m Dash
2. Alex Bloom - 51.03 [768pts] - PR
MEN'S TEAM SCORES - thru Day One
1. Tulsa - 26
2. East Carolina - 21
3. UConn - 13
4. Houston - 6
5. South Florida - 5
6. CINCINNATI - 4
7. Memphis - 3