COMPLETE RESULTS
STORIES: DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3
ARLINGTON, Texas – Southeastern Louisiana standout Cory Roberts captured the men's decathlon title for a second straight season Saturday at the Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at UT Arlington's Maverick Stadium. Plus, Adonson Shallow earned his second victory of the weekend, as he took first place in shot put, setting a new school record in the process.
Sitting in third place after the first five events Friday, Roberts started the morning with a first place finish in the 110 meter hurdles (14.68), which catapulted him to the top spot in the standings. He then earned fourth place in discus at 130 feet, 1 inch (36.65 meters), before taking second in pole vault with a clearance of 14 feet, 7.25 inches (4.45 meters).
Roberts fought through an injury to participate in the javelin portion of the decathlon. Hoping to only make one throw, he fouled on his first attempt, forcing him to try again. The second endeavor was clean, and traveled a distance of 172 feet, 10 inches (52.67 meters), good for second best in the event, extending his lead.
The top decathlete in Southeastern history capped his final conference championship in style, winning the 1,500 meter run. His time of 4:37.17 led to a final point total of 7,293. Runner-up Chris Jones of Stephen F. Austin finished 333 points behind at 6,960. With the win, Roberts added 10 points to Southeastern's overall meet total. Lion teammate Stephen Atkinson took seventh place to add two more to the team score.
After winning the hammer throw Friday, Shallow followed up with a win in shot put Saturday. His best toss was his sixth and final one of the event, marked at 60 feet, 3.75 inches (18.38 meters). That topped the school record he set at the LSU Relays earlier this season, and earned 10 more points towards the Southeastern cause.
Johnel Reams picked up one and a half points by finishing in a tie for seventh place in high jump. He cleared 6 feet, 8 inches (2.03 meters).
When Saturday's events concluded, Southeastern found itself in fourth place in the men's standings. Stephen F. Austin holds the lead at 71 points, followed by UTSA (58), McNeese State (51) and Southeastern (45.5).
On the women's side, Shalicia Rochon earned the Lady Lions' lone point of the day for her eighth place effort in shot put, as her best throw was marked at 42 feet, 4.75 inches (12.92 meters).
Stephen F. Austin has a commanding lead in the race to a women's championship with 90.5 points. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is a distant second with 33. Rounding out the top eight teams are Texas State (30.5), Nicholls (30), McNeese State (28), UTSA (27), Sam Houston State (22) and Southeastern (20).
In addition to the aforementioned events, preliminary heats were contested in 14 events Saturday. Southeastern advanced a significant amount of student-athletes to Sunday's finals, including Adlus Wiltz, who had the top time in the men's 400 meter hurdles (51.72).
Action resumes Sunday with women's pole vault at 10:30 a.m. Live results will be available on lionsports.net. Plus, updates will be posted throughout the day on the official Southeastern Athletics Twitter account (twitter.com/sluathletics).
