NEW ORLEANS – Sashane Hanson and
Zhafear Ray had to wait until the final day of the 2017 Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championship to get their shot at competition, but the high jumping duo dominated the field to notch a pair of first-place finishes on Sunday.
The 20 points, split between the men and women, went a long way as the Islanders exceeded expectations at the conference meet. After being projected to score 17 points, the men's team tallied 28 to finish in 10th on the weekend, while the women placed eighth with 41 points, besting its projection by nine points.
"I'm incredibly proud of how our athletes competed all weekend," Director of Cross Country and Track & Field
Shawn Flanagan said. "Both teams ended up overachieving by scoring more points than we were expected to score. We had some big performances by the men and women on Sunday to cap a great season."
Hanson rolled in the high jump, needing just one attempt to clear all five heights at 1.63, 1.66, 1.69, 1.72 and 1.75 meters, the final height tied for second best in school history. The Jamaican international is now a three-time Southland champion after defending her outdoor title and topping the field at this season's indoor meet.
In his first outdoor conference meet, Ray was unfazed, matching Hanson with five perfect attempts at 1.95, 1.98, 2.01, 2.04 and 2.07 meters to claim his first conference medal.
Ebony Collins added another 10 points for the women with three different events. The San Antonio native sprinted to fifth in the 100-meter dash at 11.88 seconds, before placing seventh in the 200-meter dash at 24.37 seconds. Collins ran the anchor leg of the women's 4x100-meter dash to finish fifth at 45.99 seconds with teammates
Chloe Young,
Sierra Pruitt and
Mikayla Roell.
After placing third in the shot put last night,
Diamond Thomas put forth another scoring performance on Sunday. The native of Houston's second throw in the final round of the women's hammer landed 47.05 meters down range, the fifth longest toss in school history, to finish in seventh.
Will Maraggia and
Vinnie Van Puyvelde put points on the board for the Blue and Green with stellar final kicks down the backstretch. Maraggia climbed to fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:52.25, passing three competitors in the final 100 meters. After three solid legs by
Terrion Spivey,
Jaran Cadena and
Tristan McNeal in the 4x400-meter relay, Maraggia guided his team to a fifth-place finish with a time of 3:15.59.
In the 5,000-meter run, Puyvelde climbed back into a scoring position after falling behind the lead pack with a mile to go. The Belgian international then passed five runners in the final 75 meters to finish fourth at 15:10.87, a new season best.
Spivey had a solid outing in the 400-meter dash finals, placing seventh with a time of 48.51, to wrap up his freshman campaign.
Aaron Rosales recorded the fifth longest throw in program history in the hammer on Sunday with a mark of 45.07 meters.
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