Championship Central
 
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Day two of the Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships continued Friday at the Dean A. Hayes Track & Soccer Stadium in Murfreesboro, Tennessee with the conclusion of multi-events, field finals and the remainder of track preliminaries.
 
Following day two, Liberty’s men’s squad has separated themselves from their competition on the leaderboard with a staggering 128 points. They lead Kennesaw State, who sits second with 77 points, and MTSU who has a total of 33.  FIU currently leads the women’s programs, recording 75.5 points so far in the competition. In second place is the Lady Flames with 68 points, and Kennesaw State with 44.
 
The women’s heptathlon was the first event to conclude Friday afternoon. After competing in seven events, Liberty’s Patasha Bryan surged to first with a total of 5,591 points. Bryan was second through the first five events, but a win in the javelin and the 800-meter run to close the day set her ahead of the competition. FIU completed the podium, with Itsaso Madariaga Huegun (5,269) finishing second and Nyla Fulvi (5,245) taking third. Fulvi’s set a new personal best in the multi-event, beating her previous best by nearly 200 points.
 
The men had five events to complete before crowning a champion in the decathlon. Liberty asserted its dominance in the multis, sweeping the top four. Gabriel Willis remained on top, winning the event with 7,550 points after leading in five of the ten events. Teammates Jake Nicholson (7,282) and Hunter Bleam (6,463) finished second and third, respectively.
 
Field events opened with the men’s shot put. UTEP freshman Michael Kpomassy claimed the title with a throw of 17.94 meters. To round out the podium, Liberty added 14 more points to their team score with the help of second place Trevor Veenstra (17.74m) and third place Christian Hicks (17.62m).
 
New Mexico State dominated in the women’s shot put, with Alesha Lane (16.05m) winning gold on a personal best throw, and Kamryn Cadle (15.34m) winning bronze (15.34m). Finishing second was Liberty’s Bethany Tate with a throw of 15.69 meters.
 
Pole vault was a tight competition, with all three medalists clearing the 4.00-meter mark. Placement came down to attempts, awarding Kennesaw State’s Keira Hight first place as she cleared 3.75 meters on her first attempt, 3.90 meters on her second and 4.00 meters on the first. Finishing second was FIU’s Sydney Nicholson, followed by Liberty’s Katie Urbine.
 
The Owls’ men’s squad owned the high jump competition, sweeping the podium. All three athletes hit personal best marks, starting with Chance Cross who finished third with a mark of 2.03 meters. Taking second was Kenyatta Bennett with a jump of 2.18 meters. Winning it all, tying for the second highest CUSA championship jump in league history and becoming No. 2 in the NCAA was freshman Gage Voyles with a huge mark of 2.27 meters. Kennesaw State is the first CUSA program to ever sweep the podium in the outdoor high jump event.
 
Completing field events for the day was the women’s high jump. FIU claimed the top two spots by Luca Keszthelyi and Amaya Bien-Aime. Keszthelyi took gold with a jump of 1.76 meters and Bien-Aime secured silver after clearing 1.73 meters. Third place went to LA Tech’s A'reil Williams who cleared at a height of 1.70 meters.

There were two track finals on the night, the men’s and women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase races. For the men, Liberty’s Sean Aiken (9:31.30) and Eli Julian (9:31.81) battled on the final stretch for the gold medal. They led MTSU’s Juan Lucas De La Fuente who finished third with a time of 10:03.80. The women’s race saw another exciting finish, as New Mexico State’s Nia Allison ran an incredible race to cross the line first with a personal best time of 10:08.76. Liberty’s Katrina Schlenker (10:10.76) finished second, followed by Kennesaw State’s Madison Seiler (10:17.49) who took third.
 
Preliminary events wrapped up on the track, preparing for a full day of finals on Saturday. The first final on the track will begin at 6 p.m. CT with the men’s 4x100-meter relay. Meanwhile, the last of the field events will start at 11 a.m., leading off with the men’s javelin throw. Awards will take place immediately following the conclusion of the last event. The meet, including awards, can be streamed live on ESPN+ beginning at 5:50 p.m. CT.  
 
Full Schedule of Events
 
WHERE TO WATCH
Live results can be found here.
ESPN+ Streaming Links:
Saturday, May 16 - 5:50 PM Live Stream