UNT Has Strong Showing at American Outdoors

Thursday, May 14

Denton, TX

University of North Texas

American Outdoor Championship

5/16/2026 9:57:00 PM | Track & Field/XC

Final Results

DENTON, Texas — The UNT track and field teams had a strong showing in the American Outdoor Championships at Norma Knobel Hunt Stadium, which marked the first time UNT has hosted the conference championship meet since joining the league.

The Mean Green men took runner-up honors with 138 points to finish behind champion Wichita State, and the women tied for fourth with East Carolina with 72 points, as Rice claimed the women's title.

The highlight of the meet's final day was, of course, the final event of the night, the 4x400 relay, when UNT's men's squad of Clarence McGill, Chase Lehr, Nehemiah Ray and Chris Johnson came from behind to beat favorite South Florida with a program-record and facility-record time of 3:05.91. Johnson passed the South Florida anchor on the final stretch while running a blazing 45.72 anchor split to edge out the Bulls by less than four-tenths of a second.

That was one of many podium finishes on the day final day for UNT, which got off to a good start with one of the first events of the day, as Marcus Kennedy and Jeremiah Cams took second and third, respectively, in the men's high jump. Oluwatimilehim Williams continued his run of success at American Conference Championships by taking third in the discus with a new program record of 59.95 meters to add to his win in the shot put on Friday with another PR and program record of 18.69 meters.

That gave way to the track, where London Maxwell defended her 1,500-meter Outdoor championship with a 4:25.13, with a mile Indoor championship from February sandwiched in between.

Junior Aariyana Williams had a trio of podium finishes with a second-place showing in the 400 and a third in the 200 before anchoring the women's 4x400 relay squad of Lailah Hudson, Kendahl Tucker and C'Nai Childress and Williams with a program record time of 3:36.39.

On the men's track side, Lehr had a dominant win in the men's 800 with a 1:52.58 - his first of two gold medals on the day. Hendrick Hundl broke his program record he set on Friday night in prelims with a 13.38 in the 110 hurdles to claim a runner-up showing. Tyler Moore finished second in the 400 hurdles with a time of 50.46.

Late Friday night, Derrick Warren and Anthony Ward took second and third in the men's long jump with new PRs of 7.90 meters and 7.80 meters, respectively. In the early running finals, the Mean Green also had a podium finisher when Ximena Lopez de Escalera took third in the women's 10,000 meters with a time of 35:36.97 on Thursday.

Jason Patrick set the tone for the meet early on Thursday afternoon with a win in the hammer throw with a new PR distance of 66.05 meters. Also on Thursday, Akeel Hanchard took third in the men's javelin with a throw of 63.49 meters.

UNT will now await announcements of the field for the NCAA West Preliminary, which will be hosted in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on May 27-30.