26 Feb 2013
Sports Editor
Quentin Hope / Staff Writer
The UNT track and field team ended its conference indoor season with a second place finish at the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships over the weekend in Jonesboro, Ark.
The women finished with a total of 117.5 points, five points shy of first place behind host Arkansas State University, while the men capped the day off with 126 total points and behind Western Kentucky University.
The meet was filled with first place finishes for the Mean Green. Senior distance runners Josephine Adams and Matt Russ, senior sprinter Ashley Harrison, senior multi-athlete Chelsea Hermes and junior long-jumper Terrance Williams all brought gold medals back to UNT.
“It feels good,” Harrison said. “Of course we wanted first, but we’re just happy and proud we did our best as a team.”
Harrison took first place in the women’s 400-meter dash with a time of 55.26 seconds. Harrison also contributed in the women’s 4×400-meter relay for the Mean Green and took home second place with a time of 3 minutes 47 seconds, just shy of a school record.
Williams proudly represented the jumpers as he brought home gold in the men’s long-jump. He edged out a competitive field with a winning jump of 7.24 meters.
“It wasn’t easy,” Williams said. “There was some really good competition and it took me a while to get going, but I was able to get going and get gold.”
He said that the hard surface of Arkansas State’s track threw off his rhythm, but he was able to overcome it.
Head coach Carl Sheffield said all season long that the distance runners are the Mean Green’s greatest strength. Their presence was felt as Adams and Russ took home titles.
Adams took gold in both the women’s one-mile and 800-meter run, adding another broken school record to her resume in the 800-meter with a time of 2 minutes 10 seconds, her third school record of this indoor season. Russ finished in the top spot in the 3,000-meters with a time of 8 minutes 28 seconds. Junior thrower John Garrish broke the men’s weight throw school record with an 18.56 meter toss.
Hermes torched the field in the women’s pentathlon as she brought back a gold medal with a total 3,702 points, breaking her own school record of 3,287.
The Mean Green will now prepare for the NCAA Indoor Championships, which will take place March 8-9.
