Track And Field Preview: The American Championships

Friday, May 10

Wichita, Kan.

All Day

University of Memphis

American Athletic Outdoor Championships

Photo by: Matthew A. Smith

Track And Field Preview: The American Championships

May 09, 2019 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

The American Championships (Men's Heat Sheets)The American Championships (Women's Heat Sheets)

Tigers to battle for team and individual titles in Wichita this weekend.

The American Championships Live Results

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – May Madness begins for the University of Memphis track and field squad this weekend when the Tigers compete for team and individual titles at the 2019 American Athletic Conference Championships.

The meet runs Friday through Sunday, May 10-12, in Wichita, Kan. Wichita State is the host school for the Championships, and the Shockers' Cessna Stadium is the site for all the action.

The Championships weekend starts Friday at 12 p.m. (CT) with the women's heptathlon and men's decathlon. Four field events are slated for Friday with the men's and women's hammer and javelin trials and finals. The lone two running event finals are the men's and women's 10,000 meters at 8 p.m. (CT). Trials for the men's and women's 200 and 800 meters and 400-meter hurdles also are on Friday's schedule.

At last year's American Athletic Conference Championships, the men's squad placed second and the women sixth.

In addition to vying for individual and team crowns, this weekend also provides the Tigers final opportunities to qualify for the NCAA East Preliminaries, which are set for May 23-25 in Jacksonville, Fla.

Head coach Kevin Robinson comments
"The outdoor season moves by quickly until you reach the championships portion of the schedule, and that can drag on a little. We have the conference championships, and then a week off. We have the NCAA regionals, and then a week off. We have the NCAA Championships, and then a week off. Then, we have USA Juniors. But, the regular season goes boom, boom, boom, and seven weeks later, we're in the postseason.

"Our focus now is to do the best we can in Wichita – keep our heads up, compete as hard as we can and see where the chips fall.

"At a conference championship, you don't win with a handful of great athletes. You win with depth, and depth is one thing we don't have as much of right now. We will have a lot of athletes that will continue on to regionals and hopefully on to nationals. But, this weekend, we're focused on our conference rivals. We're playing a chess game and trying to figure out where to place our pieces. We'll see where we match up.

"This conference gets tougher each year. We used to be able to 'pocket' some of the weaker events here and there. But over the last 2-to-3 years, there are not those weak events. The conference keeps getting better, and it's our job to keep growing with it."

Team Scoring
The 2019 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships is a team scoring meet.

Teams Competing
Women: Cincinnati, Connecticut, ECU, Houston, Memphis, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, UCF, USF, Wichita State
Men: Cincinnati, Connecticut, ECU, Houston, Memphis, Tulane, Tulsa, USF, Wichita State

Tigers Tidbits

Memphis makes its first postseason trip in school history to Wichita, Kan., this weekend. Although the Tigers have never competed on the Wichita State campus, Memphis head coach Kevin Robinson has been a part of a staff the coached in the Shockers' Cessna Stadium. From 1998-2002, Robinson served as an assistant at Southern Illinois, a Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) rival of Wichita State during his tenure in Carbondale. The 2000 MVC Championships were held in Wichita.
The Tigers have two returning champions from the 2018 American Athletic Conference Championships, and they are Ashley Pryke in the women's javelin and Matthew Viveiros in the men's 1500 meters. Pryke is the conference's two-time defending champion in the women's javelin, and also won bronze in the event as a freshman in 2016.
Heading into this weekend's American Athletic Conference Championships, Memphis has set six outdoor school records combined (five female/one male) in the 2019 campaign. Last season, the Tigers had 10 school marks.
To have a shot at team titles at conference meets, squads need high-level scoring – finish in the top-three – in as many events as possible. Heading into the weekend, the Tigers men's team has performers in the top-five of eight events. For the women, they also have athletes in the top-five of eight events.
One of the primary events in which the Tigers women's team is expected to shine is the hammer. The women's hammer group is second nationally, according to the U.S. Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCA) website. As a group, its average is 199-4 (60.75m), which is second to North Dakota State. The Memphis women's hammer group, which competes Friday at the Championships, includes Amber Simpson, Vigdis Jonsdottir, Mona Jaidi and DeeNia McMiller.

Tigers In NCAA East Region Rankings (Top 60)
Men
9. Adar Sheere (discus)
12. Memphis: DeMoss, Persiado, Gunnarsson, Bishop (4x100m relay)
16. Davon DeMoss (100m)
26. Davon DeMoss (200m)
28. Julian Sanchez-Pinto (3000m steeplechase)
31. Olushola Olojo (long jump)
39. Noah Agnew (high jump)
58. Adar Sheere (hammer)

Women
1. Ashley Pryke (javelin)
7. Saida Burns-Moore (high jump)
12. Mona Jaidi (javelin)
14. Saida Burns-Moore (triple jump)
19. Samantha Lenton (discus)
23. DeeNia McMiller (hammer)
30. Amber Simpson (hammer)
34. Tanalya Gordon (long jump)
37. Christian Hill (triple jump)
37. Mona Jaidi (discus)
40. Mona Jaidi (hammer)
41. Sandra Ekblom (triple jump)
41. Vigdis Jonsdottir (hammer)
45. DeeNia McMiller (shot put)
49. Paige Sandwell (3000m steeplechase)
59. Samantha Lenton (hammer)