SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS –  Eight more champions were crowned and starters for Sunday’s final running events were determined on the third day of the 2022 Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Park West Athletics Complex. The meet hosted by UTSA concludes Sunday.
 
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UTEP’s Aleks Hristor took home the men’s discus title as he recorded a mark of 54.91m (180-2) becoming the first Miner to win the event since 2006 (Corey Harrison). Rice finished 2-3 in the event with Sam Woodley taking second with a toss of 53.28 (174-9), while teammate Nick Hicks came in third at 52.89m (173-6). Hicks earned his second medal of the meet after winning the hammer throw on Friday.
 
The women’s discus was won by UTEP’s Krishna Jayasankar as she became the Miners’ first discus champion since the 2017 season with her toss of 50.02m (164-1). Rice’s Julie Perez took silver after recording a throw of 49.80m (163-4) while Qua’liyyah Taylor from FIU took bronze at 48.97m (160-8).
 
In the men’s long jump, Middle Tennessee senior Benjamin Onyekwelu completed the C-USA long jump sweep on the season as he brought home gold with a leap of 7.82m (25-8). Onyekwelu also won the indoor meet championship in Birmingham back in February. UTSA’s Christiaan Le Roux posted a personal-best 7.77m (25-6) to earn silver while Queshun Watson-Riggins of FIU finished with the bronze medal at 7.58m (24-10.5).

Middle Tennessee made it a sweep of the top podium spot in the long jump as Esther Isa claimed the gold with a leap of 6.39m (20-11.75) on her sixth and final attempt of the finals series. It is her second gold medal this season as she also won the indoor triple jump title. She was closely followed by the indoor long jump champion Ingeborg Gruenwald, as she only had two clear marks in her series, with her fourth attempt giving her a leap of 6.37m (20-10.75). Marquasha Myers from Southern Miss came in third with her jump of 6.21m (20-4.5).
 
The men’s pole vault was a 1-2-3 sweep from Rice as Alex Slinkman nearly set a conference record before finishing with a clearance of 5.23m (17-1.75) for gold. Slinkman attempted 5.42m, which would have set the C-USA record but just nearly missed. Following him was teammate Grant Levesque, fresh off his second-place finish in the decathlon, as the freshman cleared 5.18m (17-0). Levesque also finished second in the event at the indoor championships. Coming in third was Nathan Rivera with his 5.08m (16-8) mark. 
 
Men’s high jump gold was captured by Rice sophomore Ese Amata who took the victory in a jump off with Middle Tennessee’s Omamuyowi Erhire after both athletes cleared 2.17m (7-1.5). Both athletes tried 2.20m then went back down to 2.17 and 2.14 before Erhire stepped out of the competition. Amata’s clearance at 2.17m was a personal best. UTSA’s Grant Szalek won bronze after also posting a personal-best clearance of 2.14m (7-0.25).
 
Charlotte went 1-2 in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase as sophomore Hunter White crossed the line first in a stadium record and season-best time of 8:56.47. He was followed by the 2022 C-USA 10,000m champion and teammate Nick Scudder as he finished in 8:57.87. Rounding out the podium finishers was North Texas’ Jack Beaumont who finished in 9:00.67.
 
In the women’s race, UTEP’s Karoline Daland took first, making her the first Miner to ever win gold in the event. She crossed the line in a stadium record time of 10:39.17, over 12 seconds ahead of second place. Charlotte claimed the next two spots on the podium as Alina Rovnak finished in 10:52.65 to earn and Lauren Johnston finished in 10:52.96 for bronze.
 
Prelim action also took place for the running events on Saturday night seeing a few records be taken down as Charlotte’s Justin Leaston set the C-USA 110m hurdles meet record with his 13.68 in the 110m hurdles and Alaba Akintola’s 10.19 in the 100m was a stadium record.
 
After three days of competition, Rice leads the men’s competition after eight scored events with 93 points while Charlotte is just behind with 75.5 points. On the women’s side with six events scored, Rice is also on top with 37 points and Charlotte is in second with 31 points.
 
The championship concludes Sunday with the remainder of the field events and running finals. The women’s shot put starts at 1 p.m. and the men’s 4x400 relay wraps up the meet at 9 p.m. An awards ceremony for the team champions will follow. Fans can watch the live stream of the event for free on CUSA.tv.