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Miles Dortch claimed his second gold of the SWAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships by winning the javelin competition

UAPB Track and Field Staying Strong in Day Two of SWAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships

5/4/2019 8:27:00 PM

By: UAPB TRACK AND FIELD

PRAIRIE VIEW, TEXAS – The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff women's track and field team got a record-breaking performance from freshman Safiya John on Saturday to inch closer to the top spot at the SWAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

John captured the women's heptathlon with a conference-record 5,257 points, catapulting the Lady Lions into a second-place tie with Prairie View A&M at 41 points. Grambling State leads with 55 points while Alabama State is fourth with 35 points.

On the men's side, senior Miles Dortch throw of 56.59 (meters) was good enough to win the javelin and highlight the day for the Golden Lions, who are currently in seventh place but had several performers move on to the finals and will have a chance to claw back.

Alabama State leads the men's division with 69 points and Southern University is second with 43. Grambling State and Prairie View A&M are locked in a tie for third with 37 points.

But the milestone of the day belonged to John, who also finished sixth in the long jump with a mark of 5.61m and seventh in the javelin with a mark of 36.66m. Keziann Jones placed second in the javelin with a throw of 39.94m and placed fifth in the shot put with a distance of 13.49m.

UAPB will have six standouts in Sunday's finals, led by the duo Arjai Johnson and Jyzmin Gray, who will both look to place in the 400 meter hurdles. Gray ran a personal-best 14.10 to advance to the title round in the 100 meter hurdles. Camiya Knight advanced in the 400-meter dash, Je-Risa James in the 800 meters run and Ajani Bethea-Nurse in the 1,500 meters.

The UAPB men can make a major move, particularly in the 800 meters. Wade Garner and Laural Heath placed 1-2 in the preliminaries and will be favored in the championship flight. Romario Marshall will also be in the 800 final.

UAPB also had two student-athletes move on in the 400 hurdles (Rasheed McAlpin and Malique Smith) and Rodney Griffin in the 400 meters dash. Additionally, UAPB will look to score in the 1,500 meters after Marshall's time of 4:11.20 landed him a sixth-place slot in the prelims.

Day three will conclude the 2019 SWAC Outdoor Championships with the field events starting at 9:00 a.m., followed by the running events at 1:00 p.m.

The Final Day of the 2019 SWAC Outdoor Championships will be televised on SWAC ALL-ACCESS and for live results click HERE.

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