Pirates Set for 2025 American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships

Friday, February 28

Birmingham, AL

East Carolina University

American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships

Pirates Set for 2025 American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships

February 27, 2025 | Track & Field

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GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina track & field team is set to chase trophies and medals at the 2025 American Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday and Saturday at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala. The Pirates will look to put their stamp on what has been a superb season across the board since the team's opening meet in January.

There are a host of names for Pirate fans to be on the lookout for on the weekend with entries in each position group setting themselves up to be threats to score points for the team.

20 marks across the men's and women's teams rank in the top five in the American entering the meet, including five which lead the conference for the year. Kelly Ufodiama paces the league in the 60m (7.20) and 200m (22.76); Kailey Elliott leads in the 60m hurdles (8.16); Faith Spencer leads the way in the triple jump (13.03m); and Jocelyn Pringle holds the longest mark in the weight throw (20.36m). Notably, in the women's 60m hurdles, it's another Pirate who sits in second place in Aaliyah Brown-Muhammad with her time of 8.27 seconds. Pringle and Spencer's marks are noteworthy for being the fourth 20-plus meter weight throw in program history and just missing the program record by 0.03m, respectively.

Seven marks for the Pirates rank also rank in the top 50 in the NCAA this season.

Across the board, six program records have been set this season, including Udofiama, and Elliott's marks listed above. Additionally, Terence Booth, Jr. matched the program mark in the men's 60m hurdles. His time of 7.79 ranks third in the conference. On the distance side, J Henry Lyon matched the men's mile record in 4:08.09. Meanwhile, rookie Avery Fraley broke the program heptathlon record. His 4,905 points rank fifth in the conference.

Other names to know include Brianna Clayton and Jaidyn Ramsey who rank fourth and fifth in the 60m and third and eighth in the 200m, respectively.

Also be on the lookout for the trip of Hayley Whoolery, Kaylee McCullough and Erin Pope who rank 3-4-5 in the conference in the 5,000m this season. Though, Pope will be competing only in the 3,000m at the Championships. Whoolery and McCullough will compete in both events.

In the throws, Shakiel Dacres and Brandon Gayle in the shot put and Brock Lasure in the weight throw will all be chances to score as they sit in the top 15 in the conference while on the women's side A'riana Crumpler sits at sixth in the weight throw and will look to work with Pringle to bring home points for the Pirates.

Elsewhere in the field, look for Skyler Harrelson and Sarah Smith to factor into the points race in the women's long jump and pole vault while L'Nya Carpenter aims to best her teammate Spencer, currently sitting at third in the conference in the triple.

Some Housekeeping
All-Conference honors go to the top three finishers in each event and the top three teams in relays. Scoring is done 1-8 with 10 points assigned to first, eight to second, six to third, five to fourth and on down.

South Florida are the defending men's champions having scored 156 points at the 2024 meet while Charlotte will look to defend their women's title after a narrow two-point victory with 107 last year.

The Most Valuable Performer award will be given out to the athlete who scores the most points for their team and the Freshman of the Year award goes to the highest scoring rookie at the meet.

What's Next?
The NCAA Indoor Championships will take place in Virginia Beach, Va. on March 14-15. The top 16 marks in each individual event and the top 12 relay squads will qualify for the meet.

As of writing Kelly Ufodiama is the lone Pirate in position to qualify for the NCAA meet, sitting at fifth nationally in the 200m and ninth in the 60m. To date, no ECU woman runner has ever qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Raqurra Ishmar (women's weight throw) and Avion Jones (men's high jump) in 2016 were the last Pirates in any events to qualify for the meet.

Last Time Out
The Pirates historically successful weekend with athletes splitting up to the Tiger Paw Invitational in South Carolina and D1 Pre-Nationals in Virginia on Feb. 14-15. Four program records were set on the weekend with several victories and program top 10s in between.

First, the records:

At Pre-Nationals, Terence Booth, Jr. had a breakout meet with a stunning run of 7.79 seconds in the finals of the men's 60m hurdles. It gave him not only a dominant victory, but helped him match Joseph Samuels' 2012 program record in the event.

At the Tiger Paw Invite, Kailey Elliott came out of nowhere to break the program record in the women's 60m hurdles. Elliott, a junior transfer, took a chunk out of her previous personal best with a time of 8.16 to best Erin Tucker's 2014 record.

Also in Clemson, the Kelly Ufodiama Experience continued as the rookie sensation broke both of her own records in the 60m and 200m with times of 7.20 seconds and 22.76 seconds, respectively. Both of those times rank in the top 10 in the NCAA this season and her 200m record means that she has now taken 0.62 seconds off of the prior program record in the event. That time stands at third in the nation as of writing.

Then, there were a host of other fabulous results on the weekend:

At Pre-Nationals, Jocelyn Pringle continued a breakout season with a victory in the women's weight throw, going 1-2 with A'riana Crumpler. Her heave of 20.36m made her the fourth ECU thrower ever to break 20 meters in the event.

On the men's side, Brock Lasure made it a sweep with a 17.32m victory in the weight throw.

Also in the field events, Sarah Smith cleared 3.80m in the pole vault to move into a tie with Mia Alamo-Worley for fourth in program history. In the horizontal jumps, Elizabeth Taylor took a victory in the women's triple jump with a leap of 11.84m.

The distance squad had a good weekend in Virginia as well with Lily Schlossberg and Abrielle Schweitzer going 2-3 in the women's mile with the No. 9 and 11 times in program history at 5:00.13 and 5:00.91 while Alex Sawyer ran the ninth fastest men's 800m in program history with a time of 1:53.48.

That group kept it going on Saturday when Sawyer ran it back in the 3,000m with a victory in 8:16.23, good for third in program history. On the women's side, Hayley Whoolery took second in the event, just missing out on sub-10 with a finish of 10:01.31.

At Tiger Paw, Aaliyah Brown-Muhammad moved up one spot to tie Sydni McMillan for third all-time in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.27 seconds while Skyler Harrelson had another successful outing and just missed her PR in the long jump with a leap of 5.95m. Harrelson made the final in the event in an excellent field of nearly 50 competitors.

On the men's side, Dominique Alexander closed things out on Saturday in the men's 200m with a time of 21.11 seconds, third best in program history.