Track & Field: Anunagba, 4x1 Shine at CUSA Championships

Thursday, May 12

San Antonio

University of North Texas

Conference USA Championships

5/15/2022 11:43:00 PM | Track & Field/XC

Complete Results

Anunagba ties school record in 100 meters, leads 4x1 to conference championship.

DENTON, Texas – Karlington Anunagba tied Rudy Levarity's 41-year-old school record in the 100 meters and led the 4x100-meter relay team to the conference championship with the second-best time in program history to lead North Texas Track & Field at the Conference USA Outdoor Championships Friday through Sunday in San Antonio.

"I think the men had a great weekend," director of track & field Carl Sheffield said. "We missed out on some opportunities that would've really helped our team chances, but I think individually our thing was for everybody to try to drop a personal or season best that would help our scores. I think for the most part, we did that. We missed in a couple of places, but I think overall there were enough other guys that stepped up that boosted our team score a little bit."

Anunagba ran the anchor to set the tone Sunday as he, Samir Williams, Tyler Walls and Davonye Jones won the C-USA title with a time of 39.56, the second-best time in North Texas history.

Anunagba would later finish as the runner-up in the men's 100 meters with a time of 10.18, tying North Texas Athletics Hall of Famer Rudy Levarity's record set in 1981.

"When we showed up, we were excited for what happened the night before," Sheffield said. "We put a lot into our sprints. Our sprints really drive our men's team, so for the 4x1 to compete the way they did just got the whole ball rolling, especially for the sprinters. They train hard and spend a lot of time together. When the relay finishes the way they did, we knew we were off to a good start and that they'd have a great day."

With his performance at the C-USA Championships, Anunagba moved into 19^th place in the NCAA West Preliminary rankings.

The Mean Green had a multitude of standout performances for the weekend, including Vitus Hansgaard finishing as the runner-up in the men's javelin with a throw of 212-01 (64.66m). Jack Beaumont earned a spot on the podium with a third-place finish in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:00.67), Lyric Choice took fourth in the women's 100-meter hurdles (13.70), Alec Esposito placed fifth in the 1,500 meters (3:51.42), the women's 4x100-meter relay squad placed third (45.84), Macayla Needham placed fifth in the women's shot put (48-09.50, 14.87m), Nicholas Frazier-Davis finished sixth in the men's high jump with a personal-best mark of 6-04.75 (1.95m), Wardell Glaspie placed fifth in the men's discus with a throw of 169-05 (51.65m), Victor Neiva took fourth in the men's 10K with a time of 30:59.26, and Chris Samaniego placed fourth in the men's hammer throw with a mark of 183-01 (55.81m).

"On the women's side, there was a lot of promise because of the age of the people that did score," Sheffield said. "For some to have their seasonal best at the championship, that says a lot for young athletes and freshmen athletes that get to a championship for the first time. We were excited about that, and hopefully it will be something for them to grow on."

The men's team finished fifth overall with 91 points, while the women's team took 11^th with 25 points.

"Our conference meet is such a trying meet that it's going to take three to four days just to recover from," Sheffield said. "We had some people that really stepped up and had to do a lot physically. It takes a moment to kind of recover and get ready for the next week. With the ones that have qualified for the first round, we have good chances. We can go to Fayetteville and just do what we've done and be competitive. I think we have a really good chance of getting to the finals. We have a chance of having multiple finalists at the NCAA championships, which we haven't had in a while."

The NCAA West Preliminary Championships will take place May 25-28 in Fayetteville, Ark.

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