EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Little Rock's men's and women's track and field teams both finished as runners-up at the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships late Saturday with the men's squad finishing an agonizing two points away from the school's first-ever team title.
Gabby Ayiteyfio led the Trojan women and received two superlative awards after scoring in six different events.
The final day of action concluded with nine gold medals won, 19 podium finishes recorded and five school records either matched or set.
Posting the best team finish and most points scored in school history, the men's team nearly had its first outdoor team championship in school history with an impressive 214 points, well past their projected 188.5 points.
Meanwhile Ayiteyfio, who scored an incredible 37.5 points in the three-day championship meet, was rightfully named the Female Athlete of the Championship while also being named the league's Female Field Athlete of the Year. Both are firsts for a Little Rock athlete.
Over the course of the meet, Ayiteyfio competed and scored in six events and finished on the podium in all but one as she placed fourth in the javelin. On Saturday, she anchored the gold-medal-winning and school-record-setting 4x100m relay team that ran 45.13. Less than 45 minutes later, she was racing down the track again, this time clocking 14.12 in the 100m hurdles for a silver medal and the third-fastest time in school history.
Following a weather delay lasting over two hours, Ayiteyfio dominated in the 100m dash as her time of 11.94 that claimed gold and tied for the 10
th-fastest time in school history. As soon as her 100m dash race was over, she continued her fast running by sprinting over to the high jump to immediately compete. Not being allowed a warm-up or even time to stretch, Ayiteyfio quickly took charge of the competition and cleared 5-4.25 (1.63m) for a third-place finish and bronze medal.
Hardly the only female Trojan athlete to score, Ayiteyfio did contribute to the 139.5 team points Little Rock put up on the women's side, the third-most in school history and most since 1997. She was joined by
Maliyah Holland,
Takia Palmer and
Landri Schreier in setting a school record in the 4x100m relay as their time of 45.13 claimed gold and put them just 0.13 seconds away from an OVC Championship record.
Janae Largins also secured a gold medal and set a school record in the shot put. Her throw of 47-7.75 (14.52m) dominated the competition as she won by 2.5 feet and broke a school record originally set back in 1996 by over four inches.
Troy McKnight's luggage is considerably heavier following Saturday's action. He opened the day anchoring the 4x100m relay that won gold with a time of 40.05, recording the seventh-fastest time in school history, and then raced to a 10.32 finish in the 100m as he claimed another gold medal. Following the weather delay, he made it 3-for-3 as his time of 21.16 won gold in the 200m and matched the eighth-fastest time in school history.
Jordan Wallace also shattered a school record Saturday and did so in his last attempt in the triple jump. Needing a big mark to move up in the standings and to deliver much-needed team points, Wallace came through with a jump of 50-1.25 (15.27m) to set a new school record by nearly 0.2 meters and claimed silver in the meet. The triple jump was a huge scoring effort for Little Rock as
Dion Murombe recorded a mark of 49-1.75 (14.98m) to place fifth.
Frankie Grey also heavily contributed to the team scoring. His 52.69 time in the 400m hurdles smashed a school record as he claimed a gold medal, his second of the day. Grey notched his first medal earlier as he ran the opening leg of the 4x100m relay.
Johnathan Jones tied his own school record in the high jump. Clearing 7-1.5 (2.17m), Jones became a conference champion in the high jump for the second consecutive year but in two different conferences.
Nicholas Newby hauled in hardware as well, winning gold in the 1,500m with a time of 3:52.32 – the eighth-fastest in school history – and then returned later to run 1:52.50 to secure bronze in the 800m. Newby also joined
Teylen Patterson,
Dominic Ward and
Juan Garza to run a season-best time of 3:19.55 in the 4x400m relay, finishing fourth.
Andrew Payton scored alongside Newby, finishing fourth in the 800m with a time of 1:52.54 and running 3:53.28 to claim bronze in the 1,500m.
On the women's side, Holland grabbed her second medal of the day with a third-place finish in the 100m dash, running 12.07.
Takia Palmer, also in the gold medal-winning 4x100m relay, finished fourth in the 200m with a time of 24.73 and placed sixth in the 100m as she ran 12.15.
Alongside Ayiteyfio in the high jump,
Brenna Harris cleared 5-4.25 (1.63m) to match the eighth-best mark in school history and finished fourth while
Jayden Gilbert tied for fifth with the same mark.
The Trojans now await final results from across the country to see who will qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Championships in Sacramento, California.
For the latest information on Little Rock Track & Field, make sure to check out
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OVC Superlative Awards
Female Track Athlete of the Year: Breanna Miles, Southeast Missouri
Female Field Athlete of the Year: Gabby Ayetifio, Little Rock; Savannah Sullivan, SIUE
Female Freshman of the Year: Clara Billing, Southeast Missouri; Serenity Harry, Tennessee State
Female Athlete of the Championship: Gabby Ayetifio, Little Rock
Women's Coach of the Year: Eric Crumpecker, Southeast Missouri
Male Track Athlete of the Year: Noah Hufnagel, Southern Indiana
Male Field Athlete of the Year: Dylan Clark, Southeast Missouri
Male Freshman of the Year: Khalid White, UT Martin
Male Athlete of the Championship: Noah Hufnagel, Southern Indiana
Men's Coach of the Year: Eric Crumpecker, Southeast Missouri
Team Scores
Men's Results
- Southeast Missouri – 216
- Little Rock – 214
- Eastern Illinois – 165.50
- UT Martin – 59
- Lindenwood – 53
- Tennessee State – 52.50
- SIUE – 24
- Southern Indiana – 22
- Morehead State – 9
Women's Results
- Southeast Missouri – 225
- Little Rock – 139.50
- Eastern Illinois – 119
- Tennessee Tech – 87
- SIUE – 58
- Tennessee State – 50
- Lindenwood – 47
- Southern Indiana – 45
- UT Martin – 33.50
- Morehead State - 13
#LittleRocksTeam
