MIRAMAR, Fla. -- ULM senior Daniel Mutai earned Men's Most Outstanding Track Performer for the second time in three years to lead the Warhawk men to a sixth-place finish Sunday on the final day of the Sun Belt Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the Ansin Sports Complex. The Warhawk women finished 12th with 10.5 points.
Mutai shined for the third straight day with a second-place finish in the 5,000-meter run in a time of 14:41.81. He finished the three-day competition with the most points of any athlete (26), including a conference title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Saturday.
He became the third Warhawk to be named the Sun Belt's Most Outstanding Track Performer and the first two-time winner.
With the help of Mutai and the men's 4x400-meter relay team, the men made a late surge to move past Troy (77 points) and UL-Lafayette (44 points) and finish just behind fifth-place South Alabama (79.5 points). Middle Tennessee won the men's competition with 138 points, while North Texas took home the women's title with 151.5 points.
The 4x400-meter relay team capped the day with a third-place finish. The foursome of sophomore Jamel Sams, freshman Mark Demus, freshman Nigel Cribbs and senior Dimitri Hampton finished in a time of 3:11.23.
Junior Martin Solomon and Sams finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 400-meter hurdle final. Solomon clocked a season-best time of 52.47 while Sams finished in a time of 52.63.
Solomon also earned points for the Warhawks with a seventh-place finish in the 110-meter hurdle final, finishing in a time of 14.65.
Competing in his first Sun Belt meet, freshman Joey Womack took home second place in the javelin with a career-best throw of 193-02 (58.87 meters). Sophomore Isaac Grieder finished just behind Womack in third place with a best throw of 183-07 (55.97 meters) as ULM garnered 14 points in the event.
Senior Clint Broussard entered the weekend with the best mark in the Sun Belt this season in the high jump, but he finished in fifth place Sunday with a best leap of 2.05 meters.
ULM's 4x100-meter relay team of freshman Charles Lafayette, Hampton, Cribbs and Demus clocked a season-best time of 41.20 to finish fourth.
Also for the men's team, Hampton finished sixth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.05, sophomore Hillary Kirwa took seventh place in the 5,000-meter run in a time of 15:09.00 and freshman Dusan Makevic finished in eighth place in the 1,500-meter run in a time of 3:58.54.
Sophomore Teona Glave gave the Warhawk women their only points of the day with a fourth-place finish in the 800-meter run. Glave clocked a time of 2:13.43.
Several Warhawks will move on the NCAA East Regional held May 23-25 in Greensboro, N.C.
