Parchman Breaks School Record, UNT Crowns Three Champs in Season Opener

HOUSTON – UNT's Track & Field team opened its 2023-24 indoor season crowning champions in three events and breaking a school record at the Leonard Hilton Memorial Invite Friday.

KeAyla Dove got right back to her winning ways in her second season as part of the Mean Green taking home the women's shot put title. Dove's first throw of 17.61 meters was the only one she needed as that mark won the event by over a meter with the second place throw going 16.29 meters.

On the men's side, Florida State transfer Sukeil Foucha took first place in the 800 meters with a time of 1:53.50. The Mean Green swept the event with Luke Canon taking second place at 1:54.37 and Chase Lehr claiming third in his first race for North Texas.

Graduate student Jake Parchman started his final season of eligibility by setting a new school record in the weight throw. He surpassed his personal best on his fourth attempt, but the record would come on his final throw with a mark of 19.30m that was good for second place. The throw overtook the 19.09 mark set by Chris Samaniego at the 2022 Conference USA Indoor Championships.

"I felt good about today's performance but there's always room for improvement," Parchman said. "I'm blessed to have such great teammates that push me to be better every day. I'm ready to get back to work and prepare for the next meet."

Parchman and female thrower Allison Stigarll got the Mean Green's morning off to a good start with the weight throw being the second event of the meet. Stigarll, a transfer from Little Rock, set a personal best on her first throw for UNT and surpassed that distance three more times during the meet. Her final throw of 17.30 meters was good enough for fifth place.

Remaining on the women's side, the Mean Green placed three in the top-10 of the 400-meter dash. Freshman Aariyana Williams placed third after clocking a 57.43 in her first meet, followed by Alika Crawford in seventh at 59.45 and Janai Williams crossing the line in 59.70 for eighth place. Kendahl Tucker also posted a personal best time of 1:26.18 to take fifth place in the 600 yards.

Many more freshmen impressed in their track debuts for UNT including, Deja Shaw-Huckaby who blazed to a 24.22 and third-place finish in the women's 200 meters. A freshmen trio of distance runners, including Aditi Silwal, Trinity Trotter and Makaylee Ray also posted top-10 finishes in the 800 meters. Jake Dorrell and Gabriel Songer made their mark for the men with top-10 finishes in the pole vault and shot put, respectively.

Rounding out the meet, the men's 4x400-meter relay team held off Rice to take first place with a time of 3:18.64, while the women's relay finished as runners-up to SMU with a time of 3:54.24.

"I was excited with the opener we had today," head coach Doug Marshall said. "We had 13 top five finishes. We have to execute better moving down the road. We're definitely not satisfied with the meet but happy with how our athletes left it all on the track. We will get back to work Monday and get ready for New Mexico next week."

North Texas will continue its busy winter season when it returns to action Jan. 19-20 at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M.

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Parchman Breaks School Record, UNT Crowns Three Champs in Season Opener

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Players Mentioned

Luke Canon

Alika Crawford

Jake Dorrell

KeAyla Dove

Sukeil Foucha

Chase Lehr

Jake Parchman

Makaylee Ray

Deja Shaw-Huckaby

Aditi Silwal

Gabriel Songer

Allison Stigarll

Trinity Trotter

Kendahl Tucker

Aariyana Williams

Janai Williams

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