Track & Field: Three More Titles Louisiana Finishes Fourth, Eighth At SBC Indoor
Matt Sullivan, Associate Director of Athletics Communications
Burger claims SBC Male Top Scorer honors; women have strong final day
Athletic Network footnote by Dr. Ed Dugas.
Click here for the 2019 Track & Field Reunion Information.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – It was quite the conference debut for the trio of Hannes Burger, Reagann Leleux and Shalei Matthews.
The trio each claimed individual titles and helped the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns track and field team to its best performance in recent years as the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships wrapped up on Tuesday at the Birmingham Crossplex.
On the men’s side, Louisiana rebounded from a disappointing finish a year ago, finishing fourth overall in the nine-team field with 82 points. The Ragin’ Cajuns women’s team, bolstered by individual titles from Leleux and Matthews coupled with a third-place performance from Kimmie Rushford, secured its best finish since 2015, finishing eighth overall with 50 points in the 12-team field.
One day after running away with the men’s 3,000-meter crown in his SBC Indoor debut, Burger was at it again on the final day competing in both the mile run and 5,000-meters while etching his name in the history books. The freshman opened the day in the mile run, finishing sixth overall with a time of 4:19.39.
The native of Gauting, Germany capped off his first indoor season in impressive fashion, claiming the men’s 5,000-meter run in a school-record time of 14:42.68 and finishing as the SBC’s Male Top Scorer in the two-day event with 23 points.
Leleux, the current indoor record-holder in the women’s pole vault (12-8 ¼), claimed her first conference title in her freshman season after clearing the bar at 12-6 ¾. She was one of three Ragin’ Cajuns to earn points in the event with Rushford earning all-conference honors after finishing third (12-2 ¾) with Alexa Johnson earning a sixth-place finish (11-10 ¾).
Louisiana’s third title of the day – and fifth in the two-day event – was earned by Matthews, who claimed the women’s triple jump. Making her only appearance at the SBC Indoor after transferring from Kansas, the senior overcame four fouls on her six attempts, but her fifth attempt of the day counted as her jump of 40-10 ½ edged UT Arlington’s Juleen Lewis by a quarter-of-an-inch.
Continuing with Louisiana’s youth movement, six other freshmen played a part in the Ragin’ Cajuns performance on the men’s side.
Terroll Jolla placed in the top-eight in two events for Louisiana, finishing fifth in the 60-meter dash (6.92) and eight in the 200-meters (22.19). Tyrell Hargrove recorded an eighth-place finish in the men’s 400-meters for the Ragin’ Cajuns (49.69) before teaming up Kemondrick Walter and the freshman duo of Key Alfred and Solomon Brent to finish fifth in the 4×400-meter relay (3.19.75).
Louisiana had two freshmen finish in the top eight in the men’s triple jump with John Joseph earning all-conference honors after finishing third (48-6 ¼) with Rylan Theyard placing seventh (47-9).
The Ragin’ Cajuns placed two athletes in the top eight in the men’s shot put as Zach Lewis (53-0 ¼) finished seventh with Shaquille Singuineau following in eighth (52-5 ½). In the high jump, Damon Guidry added to the Cajuns’ point total as he cleared the bar at 6-6 ¼ and finished seventh overall.
Senior Juliette Smith (3,735) broke her school-record that was set earlier this year in the women’s pentathlon for the Ragin’ Cajuns and earned all-conference honors after a third-place finish. Chandler Mixon (5,001 points) and Franz Beyer (4,863) finished fifth and eighth, respectively, for Louisiana in the men’s heptathlon.
Arizona State transfer Kalei Matthews, the twin sister of Shalei Matthews, earned a pair of top-eight performances for Louisiana placing fourth overall in women’s 400-meter dash (55.98) and fifth in the 200-meters (24.54).
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Women’s Final Team Standings
1. Texas State – 128 pts
2. Arkansas State – 92 pts
3. Troy – 81 pts
4. South Alabama – 69 pts
5. Georgia State – 64 pts
6. UT Arlington – 58 pts
7. Appalachian State – 56 pts
8. Louisiana – 50 pts
9. ULM – 21 pts
10. Georgia Southern – 18 pts
11. Little Rock – 14 pts
12. Coastal Carolina – 12 pts
Men’s Final Team Standings
1. UT Arlington – 130 pts
2. Arkansas State – 119.5 pts
3. Texas State – 119 pts
4. Louisiana – 82 pts
5. South Alabama – 65.5 pts
6. Appalachian State – 63 pts
7. Little Rock – 43 pts
8. ULM – 40 pts
