FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Alabama men and women are both in first place after day one of the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships being held at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend.
The Crimson Tide women, bolstered by a one-three-four finish in the women’s shot put, is in first with 35 points. The men’s team, paced by podium finishes in the shot put, pole vault and 5,000 meters, leads the way with 38 points.
“We had some nice things happen today,” UA head coach Dan Waters said. “From Portious (Warren) winning the shot put, to getting to the podium in a number of events, we were able to rack up a lot of points coming out of day one, so we’re happy with how things went.”
Senior Portious Warren won the women’s shot put with a school record 56-9.25 while senior Haley Teel 53-8.25 took the bronze and sophomore Nickolette Dunbar 52-10.25 finished fourth.
Alabama’s women also earned a podium finish in the jumps, where senior Kiara Williams took third in the long jump with a leap of 20-8.
On the men’s side of the meet, senior Kord Ferguson grabbed Alabama’s first medal of the day, taking silver in the shot put with a throw of 62-9.5. Freshman Chago Basso also scored for the Tide in the shot put taking fifth after a toss of 61-3.5. Senior Will Herrscher took the bronze in the men’s pole vault after clearing 17-6.25, while senior Shelby McEwen was third in the high jump after clearing 2.25 meters.
The Tide earned the silver and bronze in the men’s 5,000 meters with senior Gilbert Kigen finishing a fraction out of first with a time of 14:09.87 to take second while senior Vincent Kiprop was third with a 14:12.17.
The Tide closes out the meet on Friday, after making finals in a number of events.
“We have to continue to have a scorer’s mentality,” Waters said. “We had some great performances in prelims today that set us up well going into the final day. We just have to go out there and compete as hard as we can and see what happens.”
Saturday’s events get underway at 10:45 a.m. CT with the men’s heptathlon.
