Scott, Hill Capture C-USA Titles

Thursday, May 9

Charlotte, NC

University of North Texas

Conference USA Outdoor Championships

5/12/2019 3:54:00 PM | Track & Field/XC

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Aneesa Scott broke her own North Texas record to claim the 400-meter run title at the 2019 Air Force Reserve Conference USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and Zion Hill earned first place in javelin Sunday as the Mean Green concluded the meet hosted by Charlotte at the Irwin Belk Track and Field Center.

Scott raced away from the competition in a time of 53.13 seconds for UNT's first outdoor champion since the 2017 season.

"It was really special to see Aneesa set up the whole week of training and be able to execute the game plan as needed," assistant coach David Burnett said. "I'm really excited for her to move to a point where she might be able to move onto the final round."

Hill threw 66.79 meters for the title in his first outdoor championship experience.

"Zion wasn't really even pushed that much, but he came and executed on his first throw," assistant coach Brendon Kelso said. "It's another throw that could advance him to the final at the right time. He did some other good things as well so hopefully he can build off of those."

Both the women and men achieved their highest team finish since 2016 with the women taking sixth place and the men eighth. The 73 points scored by the women is the largest Mean Green total in C-USA outdoor championship history.

"I feel really good about the direction and growth of our team," director of track and field Carl
Sheffield said. "Numerous season and personal best marks and school records were posted by our freshmen and sophomores. It shows a lot of poise for our young team. It also says we are recruiting the right people for our program to compete in Conference USA."

Jaleisa Shaffer moved to number one in the UNT charts in the shot put with a mark of 14.95 to surpass teammate Haley Walker's record and take home runner-up honors.

"Jaleisa's throws have been developing, and she's had some big ones in practice," Kelso said. "She got a nice first throw and could then find a little groove and got the throw we knew she had. She said three months ago she was going to medal, and today she came in and got second place."

The men's 4x100-meter relay team consisting of Darien Porter, Davonye Jones, Antonio Delacruz and James Cole notched second place in a time of 40.02 seconds, while the women's 4x400 group of Scott, Lyric Choice, Artesha Richardson and Lauryn McCollum posted the fastest time this season at 3:40.30 for third place and the sixth-best performance in North Texas history.

Rea Iseli grabbed the bronze in the 5,000-meter run with a personal record time of 17:11.04 to climb to fifth all-time in UNT history and also secured fifth place in the 1,500 at 4:34.85.

"Rea ran a very gutsy 1,500 in a deep field and did a good job of maximizing her place," assistant coach Kevin Williams said. "She came back a few hours later and ran the best race she's had at UNT. It was a huge performance to get on the podium in the 5k, a huge personal best, and a great way to finish out her time at UNT and with the Mean Green."

Choice posted a personal record time of 13.74 in the 100 hurdles to earn fourth-place honors, and Joseph Squire also came away with fourth in the 110 hurdles in 14.15.

In the men's 1500, Andrew Cobos placed fourth in 3:55.89, and a trio of Mean Green recorded points in the 100-meter dash. Porter (10.55 seconds) finished fifth, Delacruz (10.66) seventh and Jones (10.70) eighth.

Kristyn Archuleta placed fifth in javelin with a throw of 42.93, and the men's 4x400 squad of Jones, Porter, Yannick Kalidas and Abdon Campbell came in sixth with a season-best time of 3:16.43.

Brock Hottel and Cody Bullard finished in sixth and seventh place, respectively, in pole vault at 4.76 meters. Alia Holmes was seventh in the 200 in 24.82 seconds, and Florian Lussy finished eighth in the 5k in a time of 14:39.38.

"We are looking forward to getting healthy and preparing for the first round of the NCAA championships in Sacramento," Sheffield said.

Several Mean Green will head to NCAA West Preliminaries hosted by Sacramento State May 23-25.