
Alabama Men Take Second, Women Eighth at the 2022 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championship
5/14/2022 11:27:00 PM | Track & Field, Cross Country
With its runner-up finish, the Alabama men finished second at the SEC outdoor championships in back-to-back years for the first time since 1982 and 1983
OXFORD, Miss. – In a meet that came down to the wire, the Alabama men battled all the way through the final relay but came up just short of the 2022 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championship, taking second place Saturday at the Ole Miss Track & Field Complex in Oxford, Miss.
The Crimson Tide men tallied 116 points over the three-day event to finish just behind Arkansas (121 points). With its runner-up finish, the Alabama men have now finished second at the SEC outdoor championships in back-to-back years for the first time since 1982 and 1983.
The Crimson Tide men earned five medals on Saturday to close out the meet. Eliud Kipsang took silver in the men's 1,500 meters with a time of 3:39.09. Alan de Falchi (58.49 meters) and Jerimiah Evans (57.68 meters) took silver and bronze in the discus. Corde Long took the bronze in the men's 400-meter hurdles with a career-best time of 49.59, which set a new UA record along the way.
The 4x400-meter relay of Leander Forbes, Long, Demetrius Jackson and Khaleb McRae posted the second-fastest time in school history, going 3:02.31 to close out the meet with a silver-medal finish.
The Crimson Tide women finished in eighth place with 48 points paced by a pair of individual titles from Mercy Chelangat, who won the 5,000 meters (15:22.99) Saturday night after taking top honors in the 10,000 on Thursday, giving her a sweep of the SEC distance events for the second year in a row.
Head Coach Dan Waters Said
"While this wasn't the outcome we wanted, I couldn't be prouder of the way our men fought from the first event to the last this weekend. We had a few things that didn't go our way, which is really tough to overcome in a meet like this with this level of competition, but our guys never stopped battling. We had a number of amazing performances in both the men's and women's meet and we're looking to carry those over into the NCAA Championships."
Crimson Tide Scorers on Day Three
- The Crimson Tide scored individual or relay points in a number of events on the meet's final day
- In addition to medaling in the men's 400-meter hurdles and 4x400-meter relay, Corde Long went a career-best 13.76 to take fourth in the finals of the 110-meter hurdles
- Victor Kiprop (13:45.95), Eliud Kipsang (13:54.12) and Hillary Cheruiyot (14:01.14) finished fourth, fifth and eighth in the men's 5,000 meters
- Na'Taja Ballard, Amari Brown, Ayla Stanisclaus and Amara Obi ran a 44.22 to take fifth in the women's 4x100-meter relay
- Demetrius Jackson (20.48) and Tarsis Orogot (20.54) took fifth and sixth in the men's 200 meters
- Emmanuel Ineh was sixth in the men's triple jump with a leap of 15.47 meters
- Christal Mosley, Amara Obi, Amari Brown and Na'Taja Ballard closed the women's meet with a time of 3:28.85 to take sixth in the 4x400-meter relay
- Flomena Asekol finished sixth in the women's 1,500 meters with a time of 4:15.38
- Amari Brown took eighth in the women's 200 meters with a time of 23.22
- Amaris Tyynismaa was eighth in the women's 5,000 meters with a time of 16:07.12
- Leander Forbes finished eighth in the 400 meters with a time 46.41
Up Next
- Alabama returns to action with the first round of the NCAA Championships, the NCAA East Preliminary, May 25-28 in Bloomington, Ind.
- The NCAA East Preliminary serves as one of two conduits to the NCAA Championships, which will be held June 8-11 in Eugene Ore.
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