Alabama Track and Field Adds Two More SEC Individual Titles
Alabama track and field added two more individual SEC titles on Friday in College Station, Texas at the SEC Outdoor Championships, bringing its two-day total to four with just one day of action remaining.
The Crimson Tide also sits in second place in both the men's and women's standings.
“Everyone really came out to compete today," Alabama head coach Dan Waters said. "We had so many career-best marks along with folks going out there and competing in events they don’t usually compete, just trying to get as many points as they can for the team. I’m really proud of the fight this team has shown all season, and especially at these championships.
"I want everyone to go out there tomorrow and leave it all out on the track, if we do that, no matter where we finish, I’ll be proud.”
Alabama's first individual title of the day came via Isaac Odugbesan at shot-put. Odugbesan made the second-best throw in Crimson Tide program history, with his winning throw marking 66-4.25 (20.22 meters). Three of his six throws would have been enough to earn him the title.
Fresh off of his 10,000-meter title on Thursday, Vincent Kiprop won his second title of this year's conference championships by placing first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8:47.18 — a three-second victory.
A graduate senior, Kiprop now has four SEC individual titles.
Here are some more highlights from Friday courtesy of Alabama athletics:
Scoring for the Crimson Tide
- Nickolette Dunbar (17.22m), Cherisse Murray (16.59m) and Taylor Gorum (16.32m) all scored in the shot put, taking third, fourth and sixth, respectively
- Dunbar’s mark was a career-best effort
- In his first appearance in the high jump since April of 2018, Christian Edwards cleared a PR of 7-1.5 (2.17 meters) to take fifth in the event
- Jake Spotswood took fifth place in the decathlon after scoring 7,172 points over the 10 events, the sixth-best total in school history
- In addition to Isaac Odugbesan’s title in the shot put, Chago Basso scored in the event, taking sixth with a mark of 61-2 (18.64 meters)
Coming Back for Finals
- Eliud Kipsang posted the second-fastest 1,500-meter time of his career, going 3:36.60, to earn the top seed heading into the finals and break the SEC Outdoor Championships and facility record
- Not long after Kipsang posted the top time in the prelims of the men’s 1,500 meters, Amaris Tyynismaa did the same in the women’s race, going 4:16.93 to set the track record
- Tamara Clark posted an 11.15 in the 100 meters to set a new track record and move on to Saturday as the No. 1 seed
- Robert Dunning went a 13.36 in the prelims of the 110-meter hurdles to earn a spot in the finals
- Natassha McDonald posted a career-best 51.13, the second-fastest time in prelims, to move on to Saturday
- McDonald’s time is the third fastest in school history trailing Olympic champions Lillie Leatherwood and Pauline Davis
- Champion Allison ran a personal-best 45.55 in the 400 meters to advance to Saturday
The SEC Outdoor Championships will conclude on Saturday.
