GEORGETOWN, Texas – Trinity University has swept the men's and women's Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships for the third consecutive season, wrapping up the titles at Southwestern University this afternoon.
The Tiger women scored 268 points to finish 59 points ahead of Colorado College in second place, while the men finished with 265.5 points to hold off Texas Lutheran University and its 240 points scored in the meet. Texas Lutheran was third on the women's side and Colorado College was third in the men's competition, while the University of St. Thomas and host Southwestern were fourth and fifth in both meets.
Senior
Kierra Francois (Angleton, Texas / Angleton) was named the SCAC Women's Athlete of the Meet, while junior
Justin Johnson (Houston, Texas / Manvel) won the SCAC Men's Athlete of the Meet honor to lead their respective teams to victory. It is the first award for both athletes and it is the first men's award since Cody Hall won the last of his three consecutive Athlete of the Meet awards in 2018. Francois is the third straight Trinity athlete to win the award, with Jordan White winning the previous two seasons.
Francois won the hammer throw and the javelin throw yesterday to start off the meet, breaking her own school record in the hammer. In today's action, she added two more All-SCAC performances to her weekend, finishing second in the shot put with a throw of 11.17 meters, and reaching 36.69 meters to finish third in the discus throw.
Johnson started his weekend with yesterday's victory in the 400-meter hurdles, while also finishing sixth in the long jump. He added another individual SCAC Championship to his weekend by winning the triple jump today with a mark of 13.58 meters. Johnson also ran the anchor leg of the SCAC Champion 4x400-meter relay team that came in the final event of the meet. He also earned All-SCAC honors in the 110-meter hurdles by finishing second with a time of 15.53 seconds.
Overall, Trinity had 22 total All-SCAC performances on Sunday, which includes three individual champions and two relay winners.
The 4x400 relays put the exclamation point on both Tiger team championships on Sunday, ending the meet with wins in both the men's and women's races. Ahead of Johnson on the men's side were
Ethan Gilmore (Houston, Texas / Lamar),
Grant Bishop (Geronimo, Texas / Navarro), and
Nicolas Ladreyt (Santa Monica, Calif. / Harvard-Westlake School) with a gold-medal time of 3:20.31. The women's team finished in 4:03.09 to win the relay, which was comprised of
Taylor Kotfas (Blanco, Texas / Blanco),
CC Gray (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Notre Dame Prep),
Sealan Ledat (Richardson, Texas / Richardson), and
Hayley Huck (Prosper, Texas / Prosper).
Kotfas ran the second-fastest time of her career to win the 400-meter dash, finishing in 59.16 seconds.
Joy Areola (Tomball, Texas / Rosehill Christian) matched up with Johnson to give Trinity a sweep in the men's and women's triple jump. Areola won her second straight SCAC triple jump title with a mark of 11.03 meters.
In the distance events,
Will Salony (Dallas, Texas / JJ Pearce) was the runner-up in the men's 1500-meter run with a time of 3:56.40, while
Paige Tangney (Wilmette, Ill. / New Trier Township) finished third in the women's race in 4:58.26.
Diego Flores (San Antonio, Texas / Great Hearts Monte Vista North) was also third in the men's 5,000-meter run with a new personal-record time of 15:19.53 that keeps him at eighth on Trinity's all-time performance list.
Trinity swept all three All-SCAC honors in the women's triple jump and had both gold and silver performances in the men's field event.
Madeline Wietstruck (Houston, Texas / Northland Christian) was second in the triple jump with a leap of 10.63 meters, while
Aliya Noe (San Antonio, Texas / Reagan) finished third after reaching 9.97 meters.
Bocar Diagana (Edina, Minn. / Edina) was second behind Johnson in the men's competition with a mark of 13.35 meters.
Both teams were also very successful in the hurdles on Sunday, earning second and third place in both.
Kyle Anderson (Cave Creek, Ariz. / Cactus Shadows) finished second to Johnson with a time of 15.53 seconds. For the women,
Avery Puig (Laredo, Texas / Alexander) was second with a new PR time of 15.27 seconds that moves her from sixth to fourth in school history. Huck also set a new personal best with a time of 15.84 seconds and finished in third place.
Gray was the runner-up to Kotfas in the women's 400, crossing the line at 59.49 seconds, while Gilmore set a new personal-best time of 49.20 seconds for the Trinity men. That time moves Gilmore into a tie for seventh on Trinity's all-time list.
Trent Svacina (Alamo Heights, Texas / Alamo Heights) was third in the high jump with a new personal record of 1.87 meters, while
Heath Schake (Wimberley, Texas / Wimberley) and
Maggie Nava (San Antonio, Texas / Holy Cross) also finished third in the men's and women's shot put. Schake set a new personal record with a throw of 13.34 meters and missed the Tiger top 10 by just 0.07 meters. Nava earned the bronze after throwing for 11.05 meters and earning All-SCAC honors for the second straight year in the event.
Although she just missed All-SCAC honors by finishing fourth in the discus,
Kate Ballengee (Albuquerque, N.M. / Bosque School) broke her own personal record with a throw of 36.49 meters that moves her from eighth to sixth on Trinity's all-time list.
Danya Selber (Edinburg, Texas / Robert Vela) had a similar experience in the 100-meter dash, earning fourth place with a personal-best time of 12.60 meters that pushes her to sixth in school history as well. Selber also had a third-place finish in the 100 hurdles, but was disqualified.
With the conference meet behind them, the Tiger men and women will shift their main focus to earning qualifying times for the NCAA Championships, held in Rochester, New York, May 25-27. The next meet for Trinity will be the Oxy Invite at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, on May 6. Trinity University will also host a Last Chance Meet on Sunday, May 14.
