LANDOVER, Md. --
Monae Nichols won the long jump and
Brent Heholt leads the heptathlon to highlight Bethune-Cookman's opening day at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at Prince George Learning Complex Thursday.
Nichols, a sophomore, posted a leap of 19 feet, 8 ¼ inches to outdistance South Carolina State's Ars'Breana Tyler's 19'1 ½". Nichols won the 2018 outdoor championship in this event last year.
Heholt, a junior, has a 2,755-2,588 lead over Norfolk State's Jaylan Banks with three events remaining in the heptathlon. BCU senior
Tyson Wright is third with 2,539 points
.
Other BCU results on Thursday include
Deja Davis second in the 5000 (17:49.19);
JaiQuan Earls (23'11) and
Joel Sampson (23'7 ½) finishing 2-5 in the long jump and
Carlin Berryhill (15:08.22),
Daniel Kiptoo (15:31.04) and
Xavier Walton (15:38.61) finishing 3-6-7 in the 5000.
The BCU men are tied with Norfolk State for first place after two events, while the women are seven points behind leader Florida A&M's 25 in the women's standings.
"Definitely a solid day for us," said BCU Head Coach
Donald Cooper. "A couple of big jumps from Nichols and Earls got them on the podium, and Heholt and Wright are on pace for the podium as well. Deja and Carlin had great runs in the 5K. So overall, a solid day, but we're going to definitely need from our sprint group tomorrow."
Action resumes Friday morning.
