Kent State University
MAC Outdoor Championships
Jones Breaks Pair of Meet Records, Earns MVP at MAC Outdoor T&F Championships
5/11/2024 8:50:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
DEKALB, Ill. – Jaheim Jones set a pair of meet records and claimed the Most Valuable Performer award to lead Kent State to a second-place finish at the 2024 Mid-American Conference Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The Golden Flashes sat atop the team standings with only two running events and finished with 171 points. Akron scored 189 points to win its second straight outdoor crown.
Jones, who won three golds and scored a meet-high 23.5 points, started the final day of competition by anchoring the 4x100-meter relay team that won in a MAC Championship record time of 39.87 seconds. Logan Doyle, Sean Callahan Jr. and Dejon Manning also ran legs in the record-setting performance as Kent State secured its fourth consecutive gold in the event.
After clocking a personal-best in the 100-meter dash prelims Friday evening, Jones posted the first sub-10.00 time in meet history and won his first individual gold in 9.98 seconds. He then won the 200-meter dash in 20.60 seconds before helping the Flashes place fourth in the 4x400-meter relay to close the meet.
Callahan Jr. placed third in both individual sprints with times of 10.28 seconds in the 100m and 21.00 seconds in the 200m. His personal-best time of 20.86 seconds in the 200m prelims on Thursday puts him at No. 10 on Kent State's all-time performance list.
Ayden Bath scored 18 points by winning the decathlon and finishing second in the 110-meter hurdles. Bath recorded the No. 7 decathlon score in program history with 7,125 points en route to a 510-point margin of victory. His dominant performance included first-place in six of the 10 events of the multis competition and PRs in the 100m (10.82), 110m hurdles (14.08), discus (120') and javelin (173'-6"). Bath returned to action on Saturday with a runner-up finish in the 110m hurdles (13.90).
Quintin Cooks completed the indoor-outdoor sweep in the 800-meter run, crossing the finish line more than a second ahead of the field with a time of 1:51.00.
The javelin was the Flashes' highest scoring event of the meet, as Aaron Schmook earned his first MAC gold and Scott Benco was runner-up. Schmook won with a PR of 203'-3" and Benco was close behind with a season-best throw of 203'-1".
Liam Vinskovich cleared 6'-10.25" to win the high jump. With victory secured, the bar was raised to 6'-11.5", but he was unable to record a successful attempt that would have put his spot on the regional qualifying list in Sharpie. Zane Cattage added four points with a height of 6'-6.75" for fourth place.
Kent State also earned 14 points in the pole vault and long jump with second and third place finishes in both events. Layne Studer took second in the pole vault with an outdoor season-best of 16'-11", which puts him sixth on the program's outdoor performance list. Kristian Kneffler cleared 16'-7.25" for third. Del'Mario Hairston (23'-8") and Alex Shields (23'-4.75") finished second and third, respectively, in the long jump. Hairston added a point with a mark of 47'-5.25" for sixth in the triple jump. Shields placed fifth in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.31 seconds.
Alexandre Malanda recorded a season-best mark of 50'-1.75" for a runner-up finish in the triple jump.
Nolan Landis scored in a pair of throwing events, finishing third in the discus (172'-7") and sixth in the shot put (53'-1").
The Flashes will continue postseason competition with qualifying student-athletes in action at the NCAA East Preliminary in Lexington, Kentucky from May 22-25.
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Final Standings
1. Akron – 189
2. Kent State – 171
3. Eastern Michigan – 121
4. Buffalo – 103
5. Miami – 63
Players Mentioned
