HAMMOND, La. – Brandi Huff's fourth-place finish in the women's javelin highlighted the opening day of the 2015 Southland Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Friday at the Southeastern Track & Field Complex. The Islanders will have 34 student-athletes competing in the second day of the championships.
"Brandi Huff overcame injuries to deliver her best performance of the season by more than two meters," Director of Track & Field Shawn Flanagan said. "We had a number of other strong performances as well, a number of people recording personal and season bests. The one bit of bad news was that Dustin Smith got a little banged up and we will have to pull him out of the decathlon so he can get healthy for later in the weekend. So it was a good beginning for us, and going forward we'll certainly be in the mix."
Huff's third throw of the day was 1.5 meters better than her previous best this year, measuring 42.26 meters, and she followed that up with a throw of 42.84 to leapfrog Northwestern State's Kelsey Frank and move into fourth place to earn the Islanders five points.
Smith sat 11th in the decathlon through the first five events with a total of 3,110 points before being pulled by the Islanders coaching staff. He finished ninth in the 100 meters (11.54), 10th in the long jump (6.18m), 11th in the shot put (9.86m), 12th in the high jump (1.73m) and 11th in the 400 meters (52.72).
The day started with the 10,000 meters on both the men's and women's side. For the women, Liz Romo led the way, finishing in ninth place with a time of 38:50.26, edging 10th-place Regina Salinas (39:15.93), who was taking part in the event for the first time this season. Carrisa Piñon added a 12th-place finish at 40:26.96, cutting more than two minutes off her personal best. For the men, Daniel Guerrero finished 12th running the 10K for the first time with a time of 32:47.63, and Cesar Gonzalez posted a 14th-place finish (33:42.59) in his first appearance in the event this year.
In the men's hammer throw, Ben Clark placed 12th with a distance of 41.08 meters, besting his personal best by more than half a meter. A pair of Islanders competed in the women's hammer throw, with Kaelin Simmons coming in 16th with a distance of 43.00 meters – more than two meters better than her previous best – and Omesha Locke placing 17th at 41.52 meters.
James Whiteside took part in the long jump on the men's side, placing 18th with a distance of 6.60 meters, topping his previous career best of 6.53.
Day 2 of the Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships will continue on Saturday morning. Updates will be provided on Twitter (@IslandersTFXC) as they become available. The schedule for the Islanders is as follows:
