Chants Gear Up for Sun Belt Outdoor Championships

Thursday, May 12

Lafayette, La.

Coastal Carolina University

Sun Belt Outdoor Track & Field Championships

David Ejumeta - 2022 Myrtle Beach Challenge

Photo by: CCU Photography

5/11/2022 3:37:00 PM | Track & Field/Cross Country

CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina men's and women's track & field teams will compete in the 2022 Sun Belt Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Lafayette, La. from Thursday, May 12 through Saturday, May 14.

On the women's side, Melissa Jefferson owns the top mark in the conference for two events. In the 100-meter dash, her time of 11.00 became the new school record, ranks as the sixth-best time in NCAA this year, and is a Sun Belt Conference record, shattering the previous record of 11.17 set back in 1993 by Twilet Malcolm of Louisiana. She also posted a new personal best, school, and Sun Belt record in the 200-meters this season with a time of 22.46.

Shani'a Bellamy has set a trio of personal bests in three separate events this season, beginning with the 100-meters, where she posted the second-fastest time in the Chants history (11.42). In the 100-meter hurdles, the Columbia, South Carolina native finished the event in 13.70 seconds, which is the fifth-best in school history. Bellamy also notched a new personal best and the second-fastest time in program history for the 400-meter hurdles (57.92), which is the best in the Sun Belt.

Jermaisha Arnold (52.11) and Mekenze Kelley (52.66) broke the top two times in CCU lore for the 400-meters, with Arnold and Kelley's times ranking first and second in the Sun Belt, respectively (both are also personal bests).

Amilia Wise-Sweat's time of 2:11.66 in the 800-meters this season ranks fifth in Coastal history and in the Sun Belt. Alexis Glasco set the new program benchmark and personal best for the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.15, which is the second-highest in the Sun Belt this season. Molly Jones' personal best time of 17:08.33 in the 5000-meters is the eighth-best in school history and is the second-best in the conference. Jones also has the 10th-best Sun Belt time for the 1500-meter event this season (4:35.12).

Camryn Lorick cleared 1.68 meters in the high jump for a new personal best, tied for seventh in program history, and ranks ninth in the Sun Belt. Kynnedy Dennis' mark of 3.85 meters in the pole vault is the third-best vault in program history and the fifth-best mark in the conference for the year.

The 4 x 100-meter relay team of Kayla Sweeney, Bellamy, Arnold, and Jefferson own the top time (43.58) in school history and in the Sun Belt on the campaign, while the 4 x 400-meter relay group (Kelley, Arnold, Jefferson, Bellamy) also ranks first in the conference (3:36.25) and second in CCU history.

On the men's side, two Chants – Reggie Barlow and Garrett Wilkins – have the sixth (10.36) and eighth-best (10.38) 100-meters times in the Sun Belt this year. Barlow's time set a program record for the event. Tyler Graves is ranked in the top 10 for two events in the Sun Belt, which are the 110-meter hurdles (13.72, 4th place) and the 400-meter hurdles (53.51, 7th place). His 400-meter time is the ninth-fastest in CCU lore.

Jens Rueckert Jr. posted the sixth-best high jump mark (2.05M) this season in the Sun Belt, which is also tied for sixth in program history, while David Ejumeta currently owns the second-longest leap in the long jump (7.72M) in the conference. Jake Heydon is also ranked fourth in the Sun Belt for the javelin throw (66.74M).

The 4 x 100-meter relay team of Barlow, DeVonte Harris, Ty Floyd, and Keshon Sapp broke the school record for the event this season with a time of 39.93, which ranks fourth in the Sun Belt. The 4 x 400 team of Floyd, Graves, Harris, and Jeremiah Talbert posted the second-fastest time in school history this year (3:08.82), which ranks third in the conference.

For complete coverage of CCU Cross Country and Track & Field, follow the Chanticleers on social media at @CoastalTFXC (Twitter), @GoCCUsports (Instagram), and facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.