LAFAYETTE, La. – The three-day Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships begins at 9 a.m. Friday as the ULM track & field program kicks off postseason action at the Ragin' Cajuns Track Facility.
The ULM men have won nine outdoor conference championships with the last coming in 1988. The men's highest ever SBC finish was second in 2011. They finished fifth the last two seasons.
The women have won four titles, all consecutively from 1986-89. They've finished fifth in the SBC twice, the last coming in 2009. They will look to top a ninth-place showing last year.
Senior Joseph Womack and junior Adriunna Brown will look to defend their titles from last season. ULM also returns three of its four runners from the first-place men's 4x400m relay team.
Womack threw a 65.35m in the javelin to earn the gold and went on to compete at the 2015 NCAA East Regionals. This year, the local West Monroe, La., product ranks second in the league with a season-best of 64.18m. Womack's personal-record stands as 66.97m set last year at the Texas Relays.
Brown will look to continue her big 2016 campaign after her winning long jump with a score of 5.99m at last year's conference meet. She also advanced to NCAA East Regionals where she placed 28th. This season, Brown has won meets in the long jump, triple jump and 400m hurdles. She ran the second-fastest 400m hurdle time in school history of 1:00.37 at the Jace LaCoste Invite. Brown is expected to have a busy weekend as she competes in all three events in addition to the 4x400m relay.
The reigning champion men's 4x400m relay team returns seniors Andrew Tate, Nigel Cribbs and Mark Demus. Tate will look to overcome a leg injury that has sidelined him for most of the season. The squad will be joined by freshman Andre Johnson and will look to top their season-best of 3:14.64 set at the UL-Lafayette Classics.
In the men's 400m hurdles, junior Andre Phillips and senior Rondell Coleman enter the event ranked third and fourth in the conference. Phillips enters with a seeded time of 53.34 and Coleman 53.46 as the duo look to pick up points for ULM.
Also looking to make a splash, men's jumpers have been all over the conference leaderboards in 2016. The trio of senior Corey Wesley, junior Jemal Parharm Jr. and sophomore Lebrun Nelson will be competing in the long jump and triple jump events.
Saturday's events will begin at 9 a.m. and Sunday will start at 10 a.m.
