Sommer Knight Wins AAC Indoor Pole Vault Crown

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Sommer Knight struck gold on day one of the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships Friday at the Birmingham CrossPlex, breaking her own school record to claim her first career indoor pole vault title.

After the first day of competition, the women are in ninth place with 14 points while the men are seventh with six points.

"As a coaching staff, we could not be more proud of both teams," Director of Men's and Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Curt Kraft said. "Today was a great day. We had lots of personal bests along with a conference champion. At our team meeting last night, we challenged our student-athletes to come out and perform at a very high level. They responded very well to our challenge. We had lots of athletes advance to the event finals for tomorrow. I reminded them that this is a two-day meet. It's great what we accomplished today, but we have to come out tomorrow and finish what we started."

The men's distance relay squad of Chase Osborne, Kayin Fails, Blake Mathews and Jack Dingman scored five points, finishing in fifth place in a time of 9:58.67. Niejel Wilkins also snagged a point in the long jump with a mark of 6.99 meters.

On the women's side, the distance medley relay grabbed three points with a sixth-place result as Lindsay Yentz, L'Nya Carpenter, Lily Schlossberg and Alyssa Zack crossed the finish line in 11:51.93. Rebekah Berquist tallied a point in the weight throw with an eight-place result of 16.38 meters.

The final day of the championships begins in earnest at 10:45 a.m. with the trials and finals of the men's high jump.

"It's very important that we compete both mentally and physically for two days," Kraft added. "One of the biggest things that I am most proud of is how they competed with a lot of heart, passion and energy. They have created a lot of energy and momentum going into tomorrow's finals."

Men Advancing To Event Finals
60-Meter Dash: Royal Burris
200-Meter Dash: Royal Burris
400-Meter Dash: RJ Russell
60-Meter High Hurdles: Terence Booth, Jr., Asa Simmons

Women Advancing To Event Finals
60-Meter Dash: Melicia Mouzzon
200-Meter Dash: Melicia Mouzzon
60-Meter High Hurdles: Brooke Stith

Players Mentioned

Terence Booth, Jr.

Royal Burris

L'Nya Carpenter

Jack Dingman

Kayin Fails

Sommer Knight

Blake Mathews

Melicia Mouzzon

Chase Osborne

RJ Russell

Lily Schlossberg

Asa Simmons

Brooke Stith

Niejel Wilkins

Lindsay Yentz

Alyssa Zack

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