Alabama
SEC Championships
Alabama Track and Field Opens SEC Outdoor Championships with a Pair of Individual Titles
5/13/2021 11:06:00 PM | Track & Field, Cross Country
Vincent Kiprop boosted the men’s first-day point total with a 10,000 meters title, while Mercy Chelangat won the women’s 10,000 meters with an SEC Championship record to lead the women
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – It was all Alabama in the last two races of day one at the 2021 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships, being held on the Texas A&M campus this weekend.
Vincent Kiprop and Mercy Chelangat gave Alabama a clean sweep of the 10,000-meter races, becoming the first brother/sister tandem to win the same event in the same year at the SEC Outdoor Championships. Â
Chelangat, a sophomore, led from start to finish, stretching her lead out to more than a minute, posting an SEC Championship record and bettering her own school record with a 32:13.13. After winning the NCAA and SEC Cross Country titles earlier this year, Friday's win marked her first SEC outdoor title. Her winning time leads the NCAA this season.
Kiprop, a graduate senior, ran away from the field in the second half of the men's 10,000 meters, posting a 28:55.56 to take a 15-second victory. It was Kiprop's second SEC title in the 10,000 after taking top honors in 2018, and Alabama's seventh overall. Kiprop has now won a trio of SEC outdoor titles after also winning the 5,000 meters in 2018.
Paced by Chelangat's win, the Alabama women are in first place after day one with 20 points, while the men, led by Kiprop, are in second by two points after totaling 20 points.
Head Coach Dan Waters Said
"What a way to close out day one. That was a strong race for Vincent, extending his lead throughout and coming home strong to take his second SEC 10k title. And then to have Mercy dominate her race and set a new championship record in the process was really special. Getting points from Kieran and Bobby in the hammer and Samantha in the javelin along with Leah in the 10,000 puts us in a great position, leading the meet on the women's side and sitting just a couple of points out of first in the men's meet. We have a lot of work to do over the next two days, but this was a strong start."
Scoring for the Crimson Tide
- In addition to Chelangat's win in the women's 10,000 meters, Leah Hanle took fifth with a 34:15.16
- The Alabama men opened the championships with a pair of scorers, with Kieran McKeag medaling in the men's hammer throw, taking third with a personal best of 226-3 (69.12m), while Bobby Colantonio Jr. was fifth with a toss of 224-5 (68.41m)
- Samantha Zelden finished fourth in the women's javelin with a mark of 165-7 (50.49m)
Moving on to Finals
- Tamara Clark (22.55) and Natassha McDonald (23.10) both advanced to the finals of the women's 200 meters
- Clark's time in the 200 meters stands as the second fastest of her career and fourth fastest in school history while McDonald's mark was a PR and the fifth fastest in UA history
- Eliud Kipsang ran a PR of 1:46.99 in the 800 meters to advance to the finals, clocking the eighth fastest time in school history
- Robert Dunning moves on in the 400-meter hurdles after clocking a 50.44 in prelims
- Jake Spotswood sits in eighth place after the first half of the decathlon with 3657 points heading into Friday
Friday for the Crimson Tide
- Jake Spotswood gets the Crimson Tide started on Friday at 1:45 p.m. CT with the second half of the decathlon
- Samantha Kunza and Taylor Gorum open things up for the Alabama women at 2 p.m. with the hammer throw
- The Tide opens things up on the track with Robert Dunning in the prelims of the 110-meter hurdles at 6 p.m.
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Players Mentioned
