BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Sparked by dominant performances from its sprinters the WKU men's track and field team captured its third indoor title in the past four seasons and its first Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championship crown with 127 points Thursday at the Birmingham Crossplex. The Hilltoppers outlasted UTSA's 107 points for the title while the Lady Toppers finished runner-up behind UTEP's women.
WKU's indoor championship gives head coach Erik Jenkins a combined 26 conference titles since taking over the men's and women's track and field and cross country programs in 2008. The Hilltoppers have accounted for 12 of those championships and five have come during indoor campaigns. The Conference USA title is the first for the program and it comes during WKU's inaugural season in the league.
The Hilltoppers edged UTSA 127-107 for the team title while UTEP and Rice followed in third and fourth place, respectively. The Lady Toppers captured second-place in the team standings with 84 points and Rice, North Texas and Louisiana Tech rounded out the top five behind them.
Sophomore Emmanuel Dasor put the exclamation mark on a 200-meter dash sweep from the Hilltoppers that propelled WKU to its championship with 26 points in the event alone. Dasor clocked a personal record 21.10 seconds to win his individual crown and teammates Julius Morris and Ventavius Sears followed in second and third place, respectively, to give WKU its biggest scoring punch at the C-USA Indoor Championships. Dasor's time was the second-fastest in program history, tying former Hilltopper and 2012 Olympian Gavin Smellie's performance during the 2008 season.
Dasor and Sears were the top scorers for the Hilltoppers as they also garnered All C-USA honors in the 400-meter dash with second and third-place finishes at 47.60 and 47.68 seconds. Sears accounted for 23 points in four individual events and helped WKU tack on four more by leading off the fifth-place 4x400-meter relay. Dasor's win in the 200 and runner-up showing in the 400 contributed 18 points to the Hilltoppers' championship performance.
Ja'Karyus Redwine kick-started the huge day for the Hilltopper sprinters when he set a Birmingham Crossplex record in the 60-meter dash with his preliminary time of 6.74 seconds. Redwine, a junior, held his top seed in the finals and brought home the win with a clocking of 6.75 seconds in the finals. Morris, who also finished runner-up in the 200-meter dash, placed third to give WKU 17 points in the 60-meter dash. In total, WKU scored 57 points in the three sprinting events while four league schools failed to reach that point total in the whole meet.
Seniors Travis Gerding and Cyrus Johnson capped their indoor careers with title-winning performances in the field as Gerding took home top honors in the weight throw while Johnson captured the triple jump crown. Gerding won his first-career individual title with a weight throw of 60-feet-7.25 inches (18.47m) and Johnson followed suit with his first league championship with a personal best triple jump of 50-feet-7.5 inches (15.43m), which ranks second in Hilltopper history.
Gerding and freshman thrower Nick Demaline turned in impressive performance in the shot put as well to combine for 11 points. Demaline finished third with a heave of 57-feet-2 inches (17.42m) to garner all-league accolades while Gerding was fourth at 55-feet-8.25 inches (16.97m).
Sears' contributions extended beyond his speed on the track as the sophomore athlete also scored significant points for WKU in the field. Sears finished runner-up in the long jump with the third-best leap in Hilltopper history at 25-feet-1.25 inches (7.65m). His jump was the longest by a WKU jumper since 1983 and was just two inches short of Rice senior Ben Pressley. Sears also chipped in points in the triple jump with a sixth-place showing.
Rounding out WKU's all-conference caliber performances were sophomore Endalow Takele and freshman Jonathan Hayden. Takele finished second in the 5,000-meter run with a clocking of 14:29.15, which was just two seconds behind UTEP All-American Anthony Rotich. Hayden scored six points for the Tops in his third-place outing in the 60-meter hurdles, where he clocked a personal best time of 8.12 seconds.
The Lady Toppers were led by 17 points from senior athlete Chioma Agwunobi and 13 points from sophomore thrower Jenessa Jackson. Six athletes turned in all-league performances and five posted career best performances in the runner-up team effort.
Agwunobi recorded personal records in the 60-meter dash and long jump while also finishing second in the 200-meter dash to cap her big day in Birmingham. She clocked 23.98 in her runner-up 200-meter dash, 7.45 seconds her fourth-place 60-meter race and hit 19-feet-9 inches (6.02m) in her career best long jump that now ranks fourth in school history.
Jackson got her day started with a career-best weight throw of 61-feet-2 inches (18.64m) to secure runner-up honors and wound up fourth in the shot put with another personal record mark of 48-feet-4 inches (14.73m).
Junior Katie Lever received All Conference USA honors in the 5,000-meter run as she started WKU's day off on the track with a third-place effort in the race with a time of 16:54.03. Lever and Agwunobi were the lone Lady Toppers to finish on the medal stand in the track events.
WKU's pole vaulters ended their strong indoor season on a high note as freshman Ria Mollers and senior Karleigh Parker finished second and third, respectively, to garner all-league recognition. Mollers and Parker both cleared 12-feet-7.5 inches (3.85m) but Mollers won the tie-breaker on fewer misses.
A solid Lady Topper showing in the field was finished off by sophomore Klara Michalska and senior Jatavia Wright in the triple jump. Michalska posted a personal record to finish third at 41-feet-2.25 inches (12.55m) Wright was right behind in fourth at 40-feet-11.5 inches (12.48m).
The championship performance concludes WKU's indoor season and both teams will return to competition for the outdoor season onMarch 21 at the Memphis Invitational. For more information on WKU Track and Field, follow the programs on Twitter at @WKUTrackField.