ENTON, Texas – Junior Ruslan Hemed won the decathlon competition as the ULM track and field team competed this weekend (April 9-10) at the North Texas Classic. Hemed claimed the lone event victory for the Warhawks at the meet.
Hemed claimed the best score in multiple events during the decathlon competition, including the long jump, shot put and 400-meter dash. In the long jump, Hemed scored 723 points with a leap of 6.61m while in the shot put he threw 12.07m to score 611 points. He ran a 53.04 in the 400 meters to score 680 points. On the women’s side, junior Aleesha Mullen took second in the heptathlon, recording high scores in the high jump and shot put. Mullen cleared 1.63m in the high jump, scoring 771 points, and also threw the shot put 11.71m to score 642 points.
A pair of Warhawks finished in the top-five in the women’s shot put. Junior Lakeitha Elmore finished in second with a best throw of 13.88m and sophomore Kunesha Calhoun earned fourth, throwing a best distance of 12.93 on her final attempt of the day. Frednisha Marshall of Stephen F. Austin won the event, throwing 14.86m.
ULM also placed two in the top-five in the women’s javelin. Freshman Jennifer Goss claimed second-place in the javelin with a best throw of 36.31m and freshman Melissa Blake claimed third with a throw of 35.55m. Goss made her best throw of the day on her fourth of six attempts during the competition while Blake’s best effort occurred on her second throw. Stephen F. Austin’s Brooke Carpenter took first with a throw of 38.98m.
Freshman Alexis Smith leapt 5.90m in the women’s long jump, earning third, second among collegiate competitors. Smith’s top effort of the day came on her first jump of the competition. Tanika Luburd won the overall event with a jump of 6.23m; Ashley Austin of North Texas was the best college athlete, jumping 6.09m.
Sophomore Josh Howard finished second in the men’s triple jump, reaching 14.85m on his sixth and final attempt of the competition. Josh Cruse of Stephen F. Austin won the event, leaping 15.03m. In the women’s triple jump, junior Jerrica Thomas earned third-place with a best jump of 11.93m. Thomas’ top jump of the day came on her fifth of sixth leaps during the competition. Kelli Hermes of Stephen F. Austin took first with a jump of 11.99m.
Freshman Clint Broussard took third in the men’s high jump, clearing 1.91m on his first attempt at the distance. Isiah Clements of Texas-Arlington won the competition, clearing 2.11m. Junior Taylor Hill meanwhile cleared 1.65m in the women’s high jump to finish in a tie for fourth place. Hill cleared 1.65m on her second of third attempts at the height; North Texas’ Suzy Prikryl took the top spot, clearing 1.70m.
With a time of 14.73 seconds, junior Jarvis Mansfield finished fourth in the men’s 110-meter hurdles. Nick McCloud of Stephen F. Austin won the race in 13.94 seconds.
ULM will return to action next Saturday (April 17) when it travels to the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, La. This will be the Warhawks first trip to Baton Rouge during the outdoor season, ULM twice competed at LSU during indoor competition.