 |  |
UCM Claims MIAA Men's Outdoor Championship
PITTSBURG, Kan. (PSU Media Relations) -- The University of Central Missouri claimed its fifth straight MIAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship Sunday (May 9) at Carnie Smith Stadium/Prentice Gudgen Track.
The Mules scored a meet-high 190 points to win their fifth straight title and their eighth league crown in the last nine years. The host school, Pittsburg State University, finished second with 172 points, while Emporia State University placed third in the team standings with 141 points.
The Gorillas finished second to the Mules for the third straight year, while Pitt State's string of three consecutive MIAA meet victories in Pittsburg came to an end.
"We are very pleased with this championship," UCM co-head coach Kirk Pedersen said. "As we drove down here this weekend, we knew Pitt State had a very good team and we would be competing at their facility. We didn't know if we could beat them, but the kids performed well."
Tops among the Mules performers was sophomore Darius Walker.
Walker, a sophomore from Lee's Summit, Mo., garnered the MIAA Meet High Point Award. He scored an amazing 45 points with victories in the decathlon and 400 meters as well as a second-place finishes in the 400 meter hurdles and long jump. Walker also anchored the Mules MIAA champion 1,600m relay squad and ran the first leg of UCM's victorious 400m relay. He completed his weekend with a third-place effort in the 110m hurdles.
"Darius Walker scoring 45 points obviously was a big part of this championship," Pedersen said. "He had a special weekend. We also had some athletes who turned in some tough doubles as well, scoring key points for us. That probably was the biggest key to this victory."
In additional to Walker's big weekend, the Mules got a victory by Drew Frizzell in the hammer throw (219-5) and second place finishes by Chris Millentree in the high jump (6-10.25), Anthony Cooper in the 400m hurdles (52.68), Laban Sialo in the 10,000m (31:14.04) and Kai Roper in 400m (48.75).
Other noteable performances, included Pitt State's Brian Allen claiming a pair of MIAA titles in the shot put and the discus Sunday, after an MIAA runner-up finish in the hammer Saturday. Allen posted the second-best mark in Division II this season with a 181-4.75 throw in the discus. He won the shot put with a 59-11.25 heave.
Emporia State's Josh Honeycutt swept the horizontal jumps, winning the long jump (23-10.25) Saturday and the triple jump (52-1.5) Sunday.
Missouri Southern's Brennan Benkert swept a pair of distance races on the weekend, winning the 10,000 meters Saturday, then claiming victory in the 1,500 meters Sunday with a meet record time of 3:47.27.
Southwest Baptist's Frank Grant, Jr., won both the 100 meters (10.51) and the 200 meters (21.40).
Among other individual awards, MSSU's James Coleman received the MIAA Freshman High Point Award. Coleman placed second in the discus and fifth in the shot put.
