East Carolina University
Day 4
ECU Wins Three Events on Final Day of AAC Championships
May 17, 2015 | Track & Field
Final Men' s Results 
| Final Women's Results
STORRS, Conn. - On the final day of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships, East Carolina won three events to bring its individual titles to five. The Pirates placed sixth on both sides as the men's squad tallied 89.50 points, while the women's team totaled 77.50 points. The SMU women (131 points) and the UConn men (158 points) won the conference championships.
On the men's side, Tulsa was the runner up with 127 points, while Houston (124.5), Cincinnati (119.5) and Memphis (114.5) rounded out the top five. ECU (89.5), USF (6) and Tulane (24) placed sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.
The UConn women came in second behind SMU with 125 points. Cincinnati (117), UCF (92) and Memphis (83) completed the top five. East Carolina (77.5) was sixth, Houston (63) finished seventh and Tulane (41) placed eighth. Tulsa (36), USF (28.5) and Temple (25) rounded out the field.
"We showed vast improvements on both sides from the indoor championships to the outdoor championships," Head coach Curt Kraft said. "Both teams had numerous PRs and lifetime bests. Anytime you are setting school records and have individual conference championships, you've had a great meet."
After Kaylee Redon and Avion Jones won the women's hammer throw and men's high jump, respectively, on days one and three, the Pirates collected three more event winners on the final day of action as senior Aiesha Goggins won the women's 400-meter dash, junior Cheyenne Hutchinson won the women's 100-meter hurdles and the men's 4x400-meter relay team won in their event. Goggins' and Hutchinson's times set new school records for East Carolina.
Goggins turned in a school-record effort in the 400-meter dash as she set the American Athletic Conference record as well as stadium record with a time of 51.48 to win the event. Her time was .30 half seconds faster than the second place finisher. In winning the event, Goggins earned a First Team All-Conference selection.
Hutchinson shaved .01 half second off of her previous personal-best and school-record time in the 100-meter hurdles as she won the event in 13.31. She came away with a First Team All-Conference nod as she paced teammates Leah Lott (13.72) and Madison Rayfield (14.27) who finished sixth and eighth, respectively.
Rayfield came back later in the day and along with Tania Minkins, Tyshonda Hawkins and Jasmine Dawson, helped the Pirates to a second-place finish in the women's 4x100-meter relay with a time of 44.68. The quartet earned a Second Team All-Conference selection for their efforts.
Rounding out the women's all-conference honorees was Janieyah Collins who placed third in the 400-meter hurdles. The junior from Monroe, N.C., turned in a time of 59.59 as she came in behind UCF's Sandy Jean-Claude (58.70) and Sade Mariah Greenridge (58.77) of Houston.
On the men's side, the team of Desmond Dowling, Quay Johnson, Chandler Chase and Rodney Johnson claimed first in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:11.14. The Pirates' quartet edged out Memphis and Cincinnati to win the event and earn First Team All-Conference honors.
Freshman Xavier Brown bettered his previous PR in the men's 400-meter hurdles as he posted a time of 51.14 to place second in the event. His time was just .02 half seconds shy of tying Cincinnati's Andre Anderson who won the event with an American Athletic Conference record time of 51.12. Brown's efforts earned him a Second Team All-Conference nod.
The Pirates finished the conference tournament with two men earning Third Team All-Conference accolades in Demonte Wilson and Thomas Lehman. Wilson finished third in the men's 110-meter hurdles after finishing with a personal-best time of 14.05. His time moves him into seventh place in the East Carolina record books.
Lehman, who saw action in the men's hammer throw, placed third with a heave of 56.83-meters (186' 5") on day one of the conference tournament.
"I am proud of both teams on their accomplishments from this past weekend," Kraft stated. "Now we have to turn our attention to the regional championships and try to advance as many people to the National Championship as we can."
East Carolina has almost two weeks to prepare for the NCAA East Preliminaries which begin on Thursday, May 28 and conclude on Saturday, May 30. The preliminaries will be held in Jacksonville, Fla.
Players Mentioned
