Walker Places Second In Hammer At Championships

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Haley Walker of North Texas captured a runner-up finish in the hammer at the 2019 Air Force Reserve Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and Jack Beaumont placed eighth in the 10,000-meter run at the Irwin Belk Track and Field Center Friday.

Walker tossed a career-best 54.95 meters for her podium appearance.

"It was a great performance by Haley," assistant coach Brendon Kelso said. "She was able to do it at this time, get a PR, move herself into second place and stay there; then she also backed it up. This is her best series of throws ever. We definitely knew it was in there, and now the consistency came."

Beaumont ran a personal record in the final event of the day in a time of 31:14.40.

"Jack ran a very smart, mature, disciplined race," assistant coach Kevin Williams said. "He had the confidence to run his own race at his own pace and pick off some people that fell off at the end to move into the points."

Florian Lussy concluded just outside of placing in the 10k with a ninth place finish in 31:22.31.

Ashlynn Smart narrowly missed the finals in hammer and recorded a mark of 48.54 for 10^thplace, and Anais Hill came in 21^stat 35.77.

On the men's side in the event, Chris Samaniego finished 10^thwith a throw of 42.92, and Kendall Maples was next at 39.83.

"Tomorrow, with the schedule change and possibly throwing in the rain, it's going to be a battle of who's most mentally strong more than who's the most physically prepared," Kelso said. "I feel that should be in our favor. Hopefully Haley's performance today gets everyone psyched up, and we can keep it going."

The schedule for Saturday has been adjusted due to a threat of inclement weather in the afternoon. Women's discus will begin at 8 a.m. CST, and running prelims start with the women's 1,500-meter race at 9.

"We are looking forward to tomorrow's prelims," director of track and field Carl Sheffield said. "The schedule changes will force us to be mentally prepared. We are physically ready to perform at a high level. We'll see how many finalists and qualifiers we have for Sunday afternoon."

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Players Mentioned

Jack Beaumont

Anais Hill

Florian Lussy

Chris Samaniego

Ashlynn Smart

Haley Walker

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University of North Texas Athletics