ECU Strikes Gold On Day One Of AAC Indoor Championships

DAY 1 RESULTS | CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – East Carolina won two gold medals and set a pair of meet records Friday on day one of the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

The Pirate women are in first place with 29.5 points with Tulsa trailing close behind in second place with 28 points. The ECU men are knotted with USF and Wichita State in fifth place. All three squads have 14 points.

Junior Mackenzie Whitaker earned the first women's gold medal of the 2020 championships, winning the women's pentathlon with a school and meet record 3,954 points. She captured the long jump with a pentathlon top mark of 6.05m and was the runner-up in the high jump (1.70m) and the 800-meter run (2:20.92).

Senior Ryan Davis captured his second career American weight throw crown, adding a 2020 gold medal to a winning showing two years ago with a meet record 21.75m (71-4.25). He entered the championship with the eighth-best mark in the nation (22.20 meters).

On the men's side, freshman Royal Burris qualified for the finals of the 60-meter dash, running a preliminary time of 6.84 to finish seventh. The all-freshman distance medley relay squad of Ted Sielatycki, Coleman Ferrell, Travis Leach and Chase Osborne ran a time of 10:09.54 to take fifth place and score five points.

As for the women, junior Sommer Knight earned all-conference honors with a third-place finish in the pole vault as she cleared 4.03 meters. Junior Brooke Stith put the Pirates on the scoreboard in the long jump, producing a mark of 5.86 meters to finish sixth. In the weight throw, junior Mya Muse placed seventh with a mark of 19.11 meters while the distance medley relay squad of freshman Lindsay Yentz, junior Shellbi Chapman, senior Nuria Tillo-Prats and freshman Jenna Strange ended up in fifth place with a time of 11:48.81. Additionally, sophomore Abby Yourkavitch picked up a point in the 5,000-meter run, crossing the finish line in 17:20.43 for an eighth-place result.

In the various running prelims, freshman Melicia Mouzzon (60-meter dash), senior D'Nia Freeman (400-meter dash), Tillo-Prats (mile) and Stith (60-meter hurdles) all qualified for the finals in their respective events.

Day two of the meet begins Saturday with the men's high jump at 10:45 a.m.

Players Mentioned

Royal Burris

Shellbi Chapman

Ryan Davis

Coleman Ferrell

D'Nia Freeman

Sommer Knight

Travis Leach

Melicia Mouzzon

Mya Muse

Chase Osborne

Ted Sielatycki

Brooke Stith

Jenna Strange

Nuria Tillo-Prats

Mackenzie Whitaker

Lindsay Yentz

Abby Yourkavitch

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