Follow @hbutrack

HUMBLE, Texas – Kaitlin Smith and Scott Boon won their respective multis events and Ben Drew claimed the steeplechase title on Saturday at the Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Turner Stadium.
 
Smith followed up a strong day one with another huge showing for the Huskies, first winning the heptathlon by more than 700 points with a new school record total of 5,685. She began with a season-best jump of 6.04m/19-9.75 that broke the SLC meet record for a heptathlon long jump and netted the senior 862 points. Smith then added 611 points with a throw of 37.04m/121-6 in the javelin and ran the 800 meters in 2:18.16 for 849 points. She dominated the heptathlon from start to finish, placing first in all seven events.
 
To add to her gold medal performance in the heptathlon, Smith also qualified for the finals in both the 100-meter hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles. She ran a 13.58 in the 100h for the fastest qualifying time in the prelims and had a qualifying time of 1:05.91 to more into the 400h finals. In addition to the hurdles finals tomorrow, Smith will also be competing in the high jump.
 
In the decathlon, Boon erased a nearly 300-point deficit over the final two events to repeat as the SLC champion. The senior trailed UIW's Isaiah Hudgens by 286 points before closing the gap with a javelin mark of 51.01m/167-4 for 604 points before beating Hudgens by almost 37 seconds in the 1500 to close things out, gaining 769 points thanks to a PR time of 4:26.38. Boon totaled 7,421 points over the two days. He opened the day with 822 points on a time of 15.23 in the 110-meter hurdles followed by 671 points in the discus with a throw of 40.31m/132-3 and 849 points in the pole vault with a top clearance of 4.80m/15-9.
 
In the 3,000 meter steeplechase, Ben Drew defended his SLC title from last season, holding off McNeese's Joey Croft to win by just under two seconds with a time of 9:04.20 to earn 10 points for the Husky men.
 
Tasheba Pleasant reached the podium in the women's triple jump, picking up six team points and placing third with a big PR of 12.45m/40-10.25. That mark is 16 inches better than her previous best set earlier this season. Freshman Ameire Johnson-Bordelon also posted a PR mark of 11.99m/39-4.0 to finish sixth and add three points.
 
In the men's triple jump, Jasiah Vaquera placed sixth for three points with a jump of 14.02m/46-0.0 and Zyyare Brown picked up a point by placing eighth thanks to a jump of 13.21m/43-4.25.
 
Garrett Gibson qualified for the finals in both the men's 110h and the 400h. First, he won his heat in the 110h with a time of 14.14 and then ran a 53.15 in the 400h to advance to tomorrow's finals. In the women's 400h, Ashlyn Dobson advanced after winning her heat with a mark of 1:03.36 while Lanaye Keys also moved on with a PR time of 1:07.96.
 
Jessica Rabius and Zara Richardson each advanced to the finals in the 800 meters with Rabius running the fastest time in the prelims, 2:14.61, with Richardson's qualifying mark of 2:15.38 proving to be a new PR. In the men's 800m, Travis Jacobs advanced to the finals with a time of 1:54.73. Brianna Brand moved on in the 100 meter dash, running a wind-aided 11.98.
 
The third and final day of the 2022 SLC Championships takes place on Sunday, May 8, with events beginning at 10:00 a.m. at Turner Stadium in Humble, Texas.