By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
MURRAY, Ky. – The University of Tennessee at Martin track and field program took a big step in its growth at the 2022 Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at Marshall Gage Track in Murray, Ky. over the past three days with its highest finish in school history.
The Skyhawks posted numerous individual personal records in the championship field while reaching the podium six times with medalist honors. UT Martin’s men finished the championship in fifth with 80 points – setting a new program scoring record – ranking 31 points higher than the 49-point total which it recorded during the 2021 season. Meanwhile the Skyhawk women finished in ninth.
UT Martin scored points in several events including the long jump, 200m, 400m, 800, 1500m, 5k, 10k, 110mh, 400mh and steeple while also earning medals in both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays.
The championship event began with the grueling decathlon where both Henry Griffin and Jamire Thompson finished with personal bests and within the top-eight in the league. Griffin set a new program record after the final event with a cumulative point total of 4,693 points – surpassing the previous school benchmark by 231 points.
The first event final came on the opening day of the championship with the running of the 10k. The Skyhawks would put their first points of the three-day event on the board as senior Will Oglesby was resilient with a sixth-place finish after posting a time of 32:20.93 to secure the team three points.
Thursday got underway with dynamic sophomore Darius Holland taking the stage in the men’s long jump. Holland performed at a high level on his way to a third-place finish in the event to earn a podium finish after setting a new program record with his second attempt going for 7.53m while earning six points.
The Skyhawks had another podium finish on Thursday evening in the men’s 3k steeple as freshman Sam Shuman posted a runner-up finish in the event with a PR time of 9:23.19 – claiming eight points.
Friday marked the final day of the championship and hosted a loaded day of finals beginning with the men’s 4x100m relay featuring Colby Martin, John Collin Askew, Brady Fry and Holland who sprinted to a 41.75 second third-place finish and six points for the Skyhawks. Then on the women’s side, the Skyhawks got in the scoring column as Addison Taylor, JayleAna Wyatt, Sanaa Smith and Janay Chapman posted a seventh-place finish to earn two points with a time of 48.52 seconds.
The Skyhawks continued to add to their scoring total in the men’s 1500m race as they posted three of the top seven finishers in the race. Senior Luke McNair paced the group as he finished runner-up in the field at 3:54.85 while sophomore Cole Davis wasn’t too far behind to finish third to join him on the podium with a mark of 3:55.17. Rounding out the scoring trio was newcomer Hudson Hall with a seventh-place finish with a time of 3:58.9 as the Skyhawks claimed 16 points in the event.
After helping the team to a 4x100m medal earlier in the day, Fry continued to help his team by scoring in both the 110m (14.78) and 400m (56.22) hurdles by placing fourth and sixth, respectively, in the event. With his work on the track, he claimed eight points between the two events.
Askew also played a big role for the Skyhawks as he just missed out on a podium placement in the 400m with a fourth-place finish after posting a time of 48.98 seconds. He later came back to finish sixth in the 200m with a mark of 22.41 seconds to bring his individual total to eight points for the championship. Martin, a fellow relay teammate, also ran in the 200m and finished fourth in the field with a time of 22.27 seconds for five points.
Keeping with the theme of repeat contributors, McNair came back after a strong showing in the 1500m to finish seventh in the 800m and pick up two points with a time of 1:57.92.
The final distance event of the championship saw freshman Will Cahill once again show his maturity as he earned his second runner-up medal in an OVC championship after claiming one during the indoor season by finishing second in the 5k with a time of 14:21.1. Meanwhile, Oglesby wrapped up his Skyhawk career with another scoring performance by coming in seventh with a time of 15:06.96 as the duo hauled in 10 points for the team.
The Skyhawks wrapped up their record-setting performance with a fourth-place finish in the 4×400 relay as the foursome of Maluke Cluver, Andre Brown, Hawken Foote and Askew posted a time of 3:22.56 to claim five points.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information