UConn, SMU Win American Conference Team Titles, Houston Shows Sprinting Strength on Day 2
By Chris Lotsbom, ArmoryTrack.com

The men of Connecticut and women of Southern Methodist prevailed as winners of the inaugural American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships here at The New Balance Track & Field Center at The Armory. Scoring 158 and 118.50 points, respectively, the Huskies and Mustangs became the first team champions in the new conference.

Saturday's highlights put a spotlight on the dominant sprint performances turned in by the University of Houston program, which had multiple winners on the day.

Senior Brittany Wallace blazed around The Armory's oval twice to win the women's 400 in convincing fashion, timing 52.93. Her time ranks 11th in the nation entering this weekend, and is a new Houston school record. 

Less than an hour later, Wallace would return to the track for half the distance -- the 200 -- and again win, this time in 23.84. 

"It makes me feel so good. I've worked so hard, so many years," said a smiling Wallace, reflecting on her sweep. Wallace credited focusing on both endurance and speed work for her stellar performance.

"In the off-season I did a lot of long runs, a lot of endurance stuff. Right now we're just working on a lot of speed work and incorporating a lot of endurance with it. I think that has really helped," said Wallace, a likely candidate to compete at the NCAA Championships later this month. 

Not to be outdone, the Cougars' Leshon Collins won a pair events of his own -- the 60 dash and the 200. In the 60, it was Collins narrowly edging teammate Cameron Burrell, 6.63 to 6.69.

After bursting out of the blocks in the 200, Collins held off a strong charge by Connecticut's Darnell Cummings to win another gold medal in 21.04 seconds. Cummings took second in 21.10. 

Collins' time was a new personal best and gives him renewed confidence looking forward to the NCAA Championships in Albuquerque on March 14-15.

"My PR coming into the meet was 21.26 and I PR'd big. I ran 21.04 and dropped .22. I think that's the biggest thing I'll take away from this meet," he said. "I'm getting back to that form going into nationals in two weeks." 

Talking about their successful day in the sprints, Collins noted how Houston prides itself on the shorter events. Among Houston's coaching staff are former world record holder Leroy Burrell, Olympian Floyd Heard, and ten-time Olympic medalist Carl Lewis.

"We have a lot of depth," he said. "We have freshman that are coming up, we have a lot of people that can contribute... I think that's our strength. 

Adding to his medal total, Collins was awarded the Men's Track Athlete of the Meet award.

Continuing their sprinting prowess, Houston juniors Sade Mariah Greenidge and Dominique Brisco placed first and second in the women's 60-meter hurdles, clocking 8.32 and 8.45 seconds. 

Here's a rundown of Saturday's top performers and winners.

- A trio of athletes cleared 6 feet, 10.25 inches in the men's high jump. Darius Lynwood (Memphis), Corey Crawford (Rutgers), and Giscard Petion (South Florida) each jumped over 2.09 meters, though it was Lynwood claiming the victory on jump backs. 

Runner-up Crawford's performance was very impressive considering he hasn't high jumped since high school. Having not practiced the event, Crawford was able to earn Rutgers eight points -- adding to the ten he claimed on Friday from winning the long jump in a NCAA #1 mark of 26 feet, 11.75 (third in the world this year). Crawford was named Most Outstanding Men's Field Athlete of the Meet. 

- A day after leading off Connecticut's winning distance medley relay team, Laura Williamson won the women's mile in 4:53.00. UConn made it a clean sweep in the mile, as freshman Michael O'Donnell used a finely timed kick to win perhaps the closest race of the day. O'Donnell's winning time was 4:13.21, while runner-up Mattias Wolter (Louisville) finished in 4:13.34 and third place Nicholas Bertoline (Connecticut) in 4:13.60; the top six places all crossed the line within the span of a half-second.

Adding to UConn's dominant distance weekend was sophomore Emily Durgin. After claiming the 3000m and distance medley relay on Friday, Durgin surged with 800 meters to go in the 3000m, going on to win in 9:36.65 ahead of SMU's Agnes Sjostrom (9:40.5). Durgin took home Women's Track Athlete of the Meet honors.

- One of the fastest marks of the day was turned in by Louisville's Kelsey Cramsey in the 800m, as the sophomore clocked a personal best of 2:05.6h (Note: a timing malfunction caused this event to be hand timed rather than FAT). Houston's Drevan Anderson Kaapa won the men's 800m with a pump of the fist in 1:50.33.

- Southern Methodist junior Stephanie Kalu won the 60 meter dash with ease, clocking 7.31 seconds. Fellow Mustang junior Rayann Chin earned SMU their only field event win of the day, taking the women's shot put by throwing 52-05.50 (15.99m). Chin's throw earned her the Women's Field Athlete of the Meet Award.

- Cincinnati sophomore Erika Hurd cleared 5-10.75 (1.80m) in the women's high jump, while fellow Bearcat Darnell Gilbert won the men's 400m in 48.04. 

- Houston freshman Cameron Cornelius won the men's shot put with a heave of 58 feet, 0.25 inches. That was more than a foot further than runner-up Eric Masington (56-09.25). 

- Luis Hanssler of the Memphis Tigers topped the men's heptathlon field by more than 100 points, scoring a grand total of 4660 points. Of the seven heptathlon events, Hanssler won three: the 60m dash, long jump, and 60m hurdles.

- Odrine Belot, a sophomore at Connecticut, jumped more than a foot farther than the field in the women's triple jump, winning with a 41-11.50 leap. UConn also won both the men's and women's 4x400m relay. Robert Rhodes, from Boys & Girls High in Brooklyn, anchored 47.2 to bring home the win for the men.

- Louisville junior Calvin Arsenault won the men's 60m Hurdles contest in 7.88. Fellow Cardinals Tyler Byrne and Ben Williams also scored ten points apiece for the Cardinals, winning the 3000 in 8:16.27 and triple jump in 53-00.25.

Full results can be found here, while video interviews can be found here.

Photos/Chris Lotsbom for ArmoryTrack.com