T&F: Esposito, Williams Shine on Day Two of C-USAs

DENTON, Texas – Alec Esposito and Samir Williams took the podium with runner-up finishes in their respective events to lead the way for North Texas Track & Field Sunday on the final day of the 2022 Conference USA Indoor Championships in Birmingham.

"It was not our best day," director of track & field Carl Sheffield said. "We've had better days, but I won't complain about this day. I think we competed very well. If you look at where we were ranked going in, and then the outcomes of how people did, a lot of people moved up from their pre-performance marks. But, my expectations are always higher from a team perspective. So, I was pleased with the individual performances, but I think the overall team did not meet our expectations."

Esposito followed up his top-three performance in Saturday's prelims with a second-place finish in the men's mile, clocking a personal-best time of 4:08.88 to score eight points for the Mean Green.

"Alec competed," Sheffield said. "He was two seconds off the winning time, and I think they raced really, really well together."

Williams took second in a photo finish in the men's 60 meters, clocking a time of 6.75 (6.741) to earn the silver medal and eight points for UNT. Jared Johnson (sixth place) and Karlington Anunagba (seventh place) gave the Mean Green 13 points in the event.

"The men's 60-meter dash, they were separated by a tenth of a second," Sheffield said. "So, for Samir to squeak through, I think that was really good."

Ayesha Nelson and Macayla Needham combined to score five points for the UNT women's team. Nelson placed sixth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.68, while Needham took seventh in the shot put with a mark of 45-07.00 (13.89m).

Jordan Coates-McBride placed sixth in the 60-meter hurdles to score three points, recording a time of 8.28.

In the men's 200 meters, Jared Johnson placed fourth (21.43) and Davonye Jones finished seventh (21.83) to give the Mean Green seven points.

Clayton Boyce added three points for UNT in the men's 400 meters, clocking a personal-best time of 48.50 to finish in sixth place.

In the men's 800 meters, Luke Canon placed seventh with a time of 1:56.05 to record two points.

Esposito followed up his earlier podium performance with a seventh-place finish in the men's 3,000 meters, recording almost an eight-second personal best of 8:17.69 (four seconds away from the school record). Victor Neiva followed in eighth (8:22.49) to give the Mean Green a combined three points.

"I think Victor's kind of stands out for me because he had two good performances over a couple of days," Sheffield said. "For as young as he is, and as a distance runner, he really dropped some good performances."

The men's 4x400-meter relay team of Clayton Boyce, Jordan Coates-McBride, Ziphion Reevey and Tyler Walls closed the scoring for the Mean Green with a sixth-place finish, registering a time of 3:18.43.

The men's team finished the meet in sixth place with 66 total points, and the women's team took 13^th with five points.

North Texas now shifts its focus to the outdoor season, with the Mean Green opening up March 11 with the UNT vs. UTA Dual.

"There were a lot of young people, a lot of freshmen, that this was their first time indoors over a season," Sheffield said. "It took a lot to understand travel. It took a lot from nutritional preparation, for them to have their best. We're home at the dual meet and we're at TCU the next week, so I think it will be a much better start for them individually for the season. We're looking forward to it. We'll get back to training here in another week or so, correct some of the things that didn't go well, and hopefully put it into another better season."

Be sure to keep an eye on MeanGreenSports.com, follow Mean Green Sports on social media @MeanGreenSports and Mean Green track & field/cross country at @MeanGreenTFXC for the latest information.

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Players Mentioned

Karlington Anunagba

Clayton Boyce

Luke Canon

Jordan Coates-McBride

Alec Esposito

Jared Johnson

Davonye Jones

Macayla Needham

Victor Neiva

Ayesha Nelson

Ziphion Reevey

Tyler Walls

Samir Williams

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