Salinas Headlines UNT On Day 2 Of CUSA’s

5/11/2019 3:18:00 PM | Track & Field/XC

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Sydney Salinas earned a podium finish for North Texas with her pole vault performance while several Mean Green placed and more advanced to the finals of the 2019 Air Force Reserve Outdoor Track & Field Championships amid rainy conditions Saturday at the Irwin Belk Track and Field Center.

Salinas vaulted to a career-best 3.91 meters to earn a silver medal at the championships.

"I'm really happy for Sydney," assistant coach Derek Mackel said. "She showed great maturity after the entire field missed the first attempt at 3.91 and was given a chance to take control of the competition with her her second attempt clearance. She's worked very hard to overcome an injury she incurred last year that held her out from competition. I'm very pleased to witness her hard work paying off."

Breanna Eckels achieved her best jump of the day at 6.03 meters on her final attempt in finals to garner fourth place.

"Breanna's performance was good considering she has been battling injury this season. To go out and finish fourth and do so in a monsoon shows how much of a team player she is," assistant coach David Burnett said.

Jaleisa Shaffer threw 44.03 in discus to warrant fifth place.

"Jaleisa's conference ranking put her in the first flight. She had to do this as a freshman last year, so we knew she had chance," assistant coach Brendon Kelso said. "She stepped up and won her flight. We are hoping this sets her up for tomorrow in the shot put."

Cassidy Adams achieved a personal record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 10:49.27 for sixth place honors. Jennifer White clocked a season-best 11:37.28 for 14^thplace.

In the 1,500-meter run, Rea Iseli and Aubrey Schmidt each qualified for the finals. Iseli finished fifth in the preliminaries in 4:37.47, and Schmidt notched her best outing in the event in 4:42.91 for 12^th.

Aneesa Scott blew away her 400 heat in 53.92 seconds to advance to the finals with the second-best time in the field. Alia Holmes will run in Sunday's 200-meter finals after clocking a 24.10, and Lyric Choice will compete in the 100-meter hurdles following a time of 14.46.

The men had a strong showing in the 1,500 as all three Mean Green competitors, Andrew Cobos, Alex Cleveland, and Tim Jones, qualified for the finals. Cobos had the best time in the race at 3:56.43, Cleveland was second at 3:56.84, and Jones came in 11^that 4:02.85.

Three UNT runners are also moving on in the 100-meter dash as Darien Porter (10.57 seconds), Antonio Delacruz (10.59), and Davonye Jones (10.66) finished fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively.

Joseph Squire qualified for the finals in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.25, and also ran a season-best in the 400 hurdles at 54.58.

Jack Beaumont concluded the day's events in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a personal record time of 9:05.37 to finish fifth. In discus, Karl Sralla also achieved a fifth-place finish with a throw of 45.46 meters.

The Mean Green women sit in fourth place with 28 points, while the men are ninth with nine.

"I thought we competed well in some areas," director of track and field Carl Sheffield said. "We had strong qualifying performances from our milers and short sprinters. I'm looking for strong competition in the men's pole vault and 4x100m relay. The women's team is performing very well as a group. We are slightly ahead of our 2018 championship team total after Day 2. We have some good qualifiers, and should also do well in the field event finals tomorrow."

The impending weather will again alter the schedule. On Sunday, the field events are slated to begin at 8 a.m. and the track events at 10.