Alabama Finishes Strong at SEC Track & Field Championships

The Alabama men and women posted their best finishes since 1989 and 2006, respectively, and the men’s discus team recorded an historic medals sweep to highlight the Tide’s final day at the Southeastern Conference Track & Field Championships at the Sam Bailey Track & Field Complex on Friday.

The men’s team finished third with 88 points, its best finish since coming in third in 1989. The women’s sixth place finish (67.25 points) this week is its best since finishing sixth in 2006. Arkansas and Texas A&M finished first and second in both the men’s and women’s competitions this weekend.

“We had a great meet,” head coach Dan Waters said. “Every athlete that put on an Alabama uniform this weekend competed with great heart and great spirit. I could not be prouder of this team. Whether they made a final, or not, scored a point, or not, this is the kind of championship meet every coach wants to have.”

Daniel Haugh, Kord Ferguson, Joe Williams and Hayden Reed finished 1-2-3-5 in the men’s discus as Alabama swept the medals in the event for the first time in school history and won it for the first time since 1987.

“I’m just in shock right now,” Haugh said following the competition. “It was a lot of fun out there competing with each other. This is what we wanted to do and were hoping to do. We all knew we could do something special.”

Claire Orcel got the Tide women off to a great start with a second place finish in the high jump with a personal-best and Alabama season-best effort of 6-0 ½ (1.84m). The 4x100 relay team of Vanessa Clerveaux, Diamond Gause, Alex Gholston and Quanesha Burks rolled to a fourth-place finish in 43.70 to equal the third-fastest time in school history.

In addition to the discus sweep, the Alabama men also reached the podium in the 4x100 relay as the quartet of Jeremiah Green, Ahmed Ali, Tony Brown and Tadashi Pinder finished third in a time of 39.04, the eighth-fastest time in school history. Green also finished third in the triple jump with a mark of 53-3 ¾ on his only clean jump of the day.

Alabama will return to action at the NCAA East Regional in Jacksonville, Fla., May 26-28. Qualifiers for the regional will be finalized on Monday, May 16. The top 48 in each event in the region will participate in the meet for an opportunity to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships scheduled for June 8-11 at the University of Oregon.