Track and Field Has Strong Day at OU Classic

Friday, February 6

Norman, OK

University of North Texas

Oklahoma Classic

2/7/2026 12:10:00 AM | Track & Field/XC

Cotton and Hundl Break School Records as a part of 10 total individual titles for UNT

NORMAN, Okla. – The UNT men's and women's track and field teams had a strong performance at the OU Classic Friday, breaking a pair of program records while winning a total of 10 individual events.

Junior Phil Cotton broke the indoor long jump record that had stood for over 50 years while senior Hendrick Hundl broke his own school record in the 60M hurdles he set in the American Conference Indoor Championships last season to highlight a strong day on the track for the Mean Green.

In total, UNT had nine different athletes take home gold medals in 10 different events, including Cotton and Hundl, as well as Alliyah McNeil who was the lone Mean Green athlete to win multiple events with titles in both the long jump and the high jump.

In the long jump, Cotton's jump of 7.72 shattered the previous record of 7.44 set by John Gillford in 1975. The record was the second-oldest indoor track and field record standing prior to Friday.

In addition to the titles, North Texas posted 16 new personal bests across all events.

Jaylen Washington started things off for the Mean Green with the first title of the day in the 60M with a season-best time for 6.75 to win gold. Elsewhere in the race, Donte Hamilton set a new personal best with a time of 6.98 in the prelims.

On the women's side, Reah Degraffenried led the way in the 60M with a time of 7.56 to set a new PR. Aniyah Harrison-Stewart and Chimela Azuike also new personal bests in the prelims with times of 7.85 and 7.93, respectively.

The 60M hurdles were next on the track and were dominated by the Mean Green. Along with Hundl's school-record time of 7.71, Tyler Moore also found his way to the podium with a second-place time of 8.33.

The women also finished 1-2 while also taking home fourth place. DeGraffenreid took home the golf with a PR time of 8.45 while Lailah Hudson, who set a new PR of her own at 8.52, finished just behind her and Amani Graham finished fourth in 8.71.

The men's 200M saw another title for the Mean Green as Nehemiah Ray won the event in 21.99. UNT also had Makenden Brown (22.51) and Donte Hamilton (22.99) finish in fifth and sixth.

On the women's side, Janai Williams (25.95), Tia Davis (26.11) and Chimela Azuike (26.20) finished in fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, to give North Texas three of the event's top six on both the men's and women's side.

In the men's 400M, North Texas earned its third 1-2 finish in the track events when Makenden Brown ran a new season-best 48.90 to win the event while Nehemiah Ray finished just behind him in 49.98 to take second.

Sophomore Axxeton Miller added another gold to the ledger for UNT in the 800M with a final time of 1:57.65. On the women's side in the event, Baylee Tapley ran a time of 2:24.81 to take home fourth place.

In the two longest running events of the day, Destiny Hernandez grabbed a runner-up finish in the women's 3000M with a time of 11:01.78 while Ethan Rodriguez posted a 4:39.11 in the mile to finish sixth.

The field events were more of the same for UNT with multiple titles and top eight finishes in nearly every event.

Marcus Kennedy and Jeremiah Cams started things off in the men's high jump with jumps of 2.06 and 2.01 to take second and fourth place, respectively.

On the women's side, North Texas took three of the top five stops highlighted by another 1-2 finish, this time from Alliyah McNeil (1.75m) and Nykaela Mays (1.65m) while Nichole Thomas (1.60m) finished in fifth.

The long jump was dominated by the Mean Green on both sides. Cotton led the way with his school record jump while McNeil won on the women's side with a distance of 6.20m. in addition, Dominique Hall (6.82m) grabbed fourth place for the men while Aniyah Harrison-Stewart (6.06m, 3rd) took third and Jasmyn Reece (5.82m) finished sixth.

In the women's shot put, Ava Roberts won another gold for UNT with a season-best throw of 14.97m. Behind her in fifth place, Fabrienne Foster set a new personal best with a throw of 13.91m and Dionna James placed sixth after throwing 13.77m.

For the men, Olu Williams landed on the podium with a second-place throw of 17.14m. The Mean Green also had Justin Craft in fifth place (16.72m) and a personal-best throw of 14.27m from Phil Cotton to take seventh.

The men's triple jump produced three top-four finishes, including a new PR jump of 14.89 to finish with silver by Ayden Thompson. Dominique Hall (14.74) finished on the podium in third while Kason Johnson (14.15) narrowly missed the podium in fourth place.

North Texas had a pair of players set new PRs in the men's weight throw as Rachone Stigarll threw 18.14m for third place and Jason Patrick threw 17.05m to finish in fifth.

Finally, Fabrienne Foster, Allison Stigrall and Olivia Hildebrand all finished inside the top eight in the women's weight throw. Foster (18.67m) placed fourth, Stigarll (17.03m) finished seventh and Hildebrand (16.89m) placed in eighth.

UNT will return to action Friday and Saturday, Feb. 13-14 at the Jarvis Scott Invite hosted by Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

-- GMG --