The Western Kentucky track and field team scored points in the men’s weight throw, men’s distance medley relay and women’s pole vault Saturday on the first day of competition at the 2021 Conference USA Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Ala.

The relay squad finished third for a podium placement and four men’s runners advanced to the finals of their events.

WKU’s distance medley relay team finished the day on a high note as Clint Sherman, Jonathan Allen, Casey Buchanan and Dedrick Troxell earned a spot on the podium with a third-place finish in the event. The relay recorded a time of 10 minutes, 14.86 seconds.

Sophomore Brett Brannon and junior John Elam also scored points for the Hilltoppers, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, in the weight throw. Brannon threw a personal best 17.23 meters, while Elam notched a personal best 16.56-meter throw. 

Between the relay and weight throw, the Hilltoppers have scored 15 points through the first day of competition.

Scoring for the women was sophomore pole vaulter Grace Turner. With a mark of 3.56 meters, Turner finished eighth and scored a point for the women’s squad. 

In the men’s 200-meter dash preliminaries, graduate senior Marlowe Mosley clocked a time of 21.47 to finish second while reigning C-USA champion Dartez Hamlin came in fourth with a 21.74. 

Current C-USA leader Mosley finished first in the 400-meter prelims and will take the top spot headed into Sunday’s finals. 

In the mile, teammates Troxell and Sherman qualified for the finals after finishing fourth and sixth respectively in Saturday’s preliminary race. In the rest of the distance group, both Emerson Wells and Carley Maskos logged PRs in their 5,000-meter races. Troxell and Buchanan narrowly missed the finals of the 800-meter after finishing 11th and 12th, respectively. 

On Sunday, competition for WKU will begin at 10 a.m. with the men’s shot put. WKU’s men’s squad sits in sixth through six scored events while the women are in 11th after five scored events.

Men’s Results

60m prelims

11th – Elliott Bryant – 6.99

200m prelims

2nd – Marlowe Mosley – 21.47* – qualified

4th – Dartez Hamlin – 21.73 – qualified

400m prelims

1st – Marlowe Mosley – 47.70 – qualified

9th – Jonathan Allen – 49.96*

800m prelims

11th – Dedrick Troxell – 1:58.76

12th – Casey Buchanan – 1:58.82

1 mile prelims

4th – Dedrick Troxell – 4:15.75 – qualified

6th – Clint Sherman – 4:16.42* – qualified

5,000m

9th – Emerson Wells – 15:04.63*

DMR

3rd – Sherman, Allen, Buchanan, Troxell – 10:14.86 – 6 points

Pole Vault

9th – Devon Montgomery – 4.44m

Weight Throw

4th – Brett Brannon – 17.23m* – 5 points

5th – John Elam – 16.56m* – 4 points

11th – Kaison Barton – 14.54m

13th – Joel Dittoe – 13.95m

Women’s Results

60m prelims

10th – Alexis Williams – 7.77

200m prelims

DNS – Alexis Williams

1 mile prelims

14th – Savannah Heckman – 5:16.30

15th – Lucy Rutherford – 5:17.27

20th – Maddy Hurt – 5:22.73

5,000m

9th – Savannah Heckman – 17:55.00

18th – Carley Maskos – 19:19.74*

Pentathlon

DNS - Samyzia Sears

Pole Vault

8th – Grace Turner – 3.56m – 1 point

NH – Allison Ferguson

NH – Nikki Ogorek

Weight Throw

24th - Mary Claire Redden – 11.73m

*denotes collegiate PR