GULF SHORES, Ala. – The ULM track & field programs will begin their postseason push at the three-day Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships beginning Friday at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium.
Events will begin at 10:00 a.m. on each day.
Senior Jamel Sams will defend his 400m hurdles crown after winning the event last season. Preliminaries for the event begin at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday with the finals at 6:45 p.m. on Sunday. Sams will look to break his season-best of 51.85 and a career-record of 51.29 set at NCAA Regionals last season.
Reigning SBC Track Athlete of the Week, junior Andrew Tate, enters the championships holding the fastest time in the 400m in the league this season. He sprinted for a personal-record time of 46.42 at the Leon Johnson Invitational, making him the favorite this weekend. Tate was 0.07 seconds away from breaking a 14-year-old school record.
Tate was one of five ULM student-athletes to earn a weekly award from the conference this season including Sams, sophomore Jemal Parharm Jr., freshman Devyn Hosby and sophomore Adriunna Brown.
Parharm Jr. and junior Corey Wesley will look to continue a phenomenal 2015 campaign in jumping events. Wesley registered the SBC's second-best score in the long jump this season (7.65m) while Parharm was fourth (7.48m). Parharm is also sixth in the triple jump after his season-best leap of 14.84m at the Leon Johnson Invitational.
In throws, junior Joey Womack will look to win the javelin after taking third-place last year. He enters the competition with the league's top throw of 66.97m set at the Texas Relays.
Senior Isaac Grieder will look to avenge a second-place showing in the heptathlon indoors with a gold medal outdoors. His career-best score of 7,034 set at the Texas Relays is second in the league.
On the women's side, sophomore Mi'Ca Lowe will try to improve upon her bronze medal last year in the javelin. She threw a personal-record 46.38m this year at the Texas Relays, the second-farthest in the SBC. Lowe qualified for NCAA Regionals in the event last season and looks to get back this year.
Brown will try to cap off a breakout season in two different events. She sits third in the long jump after her personal-record mark of 6.06m and is also sixth in the 400m hurdles at a time of 1:02.16, another personal-record.
The ULM men's squad finished seventh overall at the Indoor Championships while the women placed ninth.
The Warhawks will also be racing individually to improve their times to get into NCAA East Regionals in Jacksonville, Fla., on May 28-30. ULM had four representatives last year in Sams, Grieder, Wesley and Lowe.
