ABILENE – The UT Tyler men’s Track & Field team secured its fourth straight American Southwest Conference Championship title with six Patriots earning a total of nine individual titles on Saturday at Wilford Moore Stadium.
Conner Benson earned ASC High Point Athlete of the Year with 26 points coming with wins in the 5,000 and 10,000 along with a second-place finish, while Keiundas Wade, Matt Godwin, Aaron Hurd, Miles Zeolrlin and Ali Yazdanshenas won championships. The Patriots ran away with the team championship by securing 246 points, while Sul Ross was second with 111 points and Hardin-Simmons third with 97. UT Tyler’s Bob Hepler was named the ASC Coach of the Year.
Aaron Hurd was named the ASC Outstanding Freshman of the Year after a strong season that culminated with him winning the 800-meter run in a blistering 1:58.93. Logan Houser was third in the 800 for UT Tyler with a 2:00.75 and Nicky Atkins and Daniel Gariby were fifth and sixth in the event. A freshman from Katy, Hurd won the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Friday in a time of 10:11.87 for his first conference title of his career.
Wade earned ASC Outstanding Field Athlete of the Year after winning the discus and shot put on Saturday. Wade, a senior from Tyler, secured the shot put title with a throw of 15.12 which dominated the field. ETBU’s Tony Jones was second with a throw of 13.39 while teammate Matthew Roe was third with a throw of 13.31 for the Patriots. Wade would win the discus with a 46.20 mark, while Gabriel Perez was second with a throw of 45.55 and Ali Yazdanshenas third at 41.42 to put UT Tyler 1-2-3 in the discus event. Yazdanshenas won his first ASC championship in the hammer throw with a mark of 47.92 meters. The distance won him the title with Perez (43.95), Cole Stembridge (43.83) and Roe (40.84) securing the top-4 spots for the Patriots.
The UT Tyler 4x400-meter relay team won the ASC Championship and set a school record with a time of 3:18.35 turned in by Tyler Campbell, Logan Houser, Zach Richardson and Jake Davidson. The time just clipped Hardin-Simmons which was second with a time of 3:18.89 for second place.
Zeolrlin was dominant in the 1,500 meters in winning his first ASC title of his career with a run of 4:13.98 which was three seconds ahead of Joseph Parker (Sul Ross) and Benson who took third in a time of 4:22.54 to earn six points. Benson would secure 10 points with a win in the time of 16:24.48 in the 5,000 meters with Tristan Moore finishing third by running a 17:18.83 and Erik Sanchez fifth in the event.
Evan Wold is now the program-record holder in the 110 meter hurdles after running a 14.96 in the finals on Saturday. Wold finished second in the race just behind Terrelle Owens (SRSU) who crossed the line at 14.73 for the win. Jake Davidson would also earn a top-5 finish in a hurdle event by running a 58.14 in the 400-meter hurdles to finish third and earn six points for the Patriots.
Richardson established a new UT Tyler record by running a 49.08 in the 400-meter dash which was just behind Richard Snyder (Sul Ross) who won the event in a time of 48.33. Tyler Campbell made it a 2-3 UT Tyler finish by running a 50.09 to take third and gain six points for the Patriots.
ASC Men's Track & Field Championships Awards
High Point Athlete of the Year: Connor Benson, UT Tyler
Outstanding Freshman Athlete of the Year: Aaron Hurd, UT Tyler
Outstanding Field Athlete of the Year: Keiundas Wade, UT Tyler
Outstanding Track Athlete of the Year: Richard Snyder, Sul Ross State
Coach of the Year: Bob Hepler, UT Tyler
All-Conference: Hason Lipscomb (SRSU), Richard Snyder (SRSU), Aaron Hurd (UTT), Miles Zeolrlin (UTT), Conner Benson (UTT), Terrelle Owens (SRSU), Jermaine Stevens (SRSU), James Davis (SRSU), Tyler Campbell (UTT), Logan Houser (UTT), Zach Richardson (UTT), Jake Davidson (UTT), Cody Blankenship (ETBU), Kyle Mann (HSU), Gabriel Spivey (CTX), Jeremy Adams (CTX), Keiundas Wade (UTT), Ali Yazdanshenas (UTT), Matthew Godwin (UTT), Jonathan Cole (HSU), Gabriel Perez (UTT), Tristan Moore (UTT), Alexander Lewis (UTT).
