Men's Track Concludes Opening Day of SEC Championships
2/26/2010 12:00:00 AM
Feb. 26, 2010
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - With just four events of the heptathlon underway, the No. 21 Alabama men's track and field team concluded day one of the SEC Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center on Friday.
Senior Michael Hughes began the multi-event competition in third place after finishing in that position in the 60m dash. His time of 7.18 was just one-hundredth of a second from his personal-best. Sophomore Justin Brady placed 13th with a time of 7.67.
In event two of seven, the long jump, Hughes set a career-best with a mark of 21-4 3/4 to place eighth in the event. Sophomore Justin Brady finished 11th in the event with a leap of 19-2 1/2.
In the shot put, Hughes turned in a fifth-place finish with a heave of 39-1 1/4. Brady was 12th with his throw of 32-10 1/4.
Brady set a new career-best in the high jump, landing him in sixth place with a clearance of the bar set at 6-3 1/4. Hughes finished 12th in the event, clearing a height of 5-7.
With three of the seven events remaining, Hughes and Brady sit in eighth (2,667 points) and 12th (2,422 points) place, respectively.
"I'm certainly liking the way the guys are competing," head coach Harvey Glance said. "They're helping us get the meet off to a great start. It's a great competition this year in the heptathlon. There's about five or six guys that are going to be close to 5,000 points, which is about the deepest field in the last decade. Hughes' is doing a very good job considering what he's up against and I think he is stepping up to the challenge. For Brady to move up, it's going to be who can focus the most. They've just got to stay focused and I think we'll be ok. I'm real proud of them and both are in good position to score points."
The men's heptathlon competition is set to commence at 2:10 p.m. with the final three events, while the individual events for Alabama will begin at 2:50 p.m. with the men's 60m dash.
