"Coming off the COVID year we wanted to try and be consistent as possible," director of track and field Carl Sheffield said. "Not knowing the challenges of contact tracing and quarantine, we wanted to go into the year with a high level of consistency. Losing teammates to COVID and missing valuable training time was a big motivator of doing the right things. I think it brought us closer.
The Mean Green flourished in the postseason beginning with the Conference USA Outdoor Championships where the men recorded their highest-ever finish and point total. The UNT men totaled 80 points for a fourth-place finish throughout the three-day championship, outdoing the previous team bests of 77 points and fifth place in 2016. The UNT women tallied 41.5 points, their fourth-highest output since joining C-USA, for ninth place.
For their performances at the Championships, the Mean Green garnered nine all-conference accolades, the highest-ever C-USA award total for North Texas. Zion Hill was represented on the First Team and remains just the second Mean Green to become an event champion. Second Team honors went to Karlington Anunagba (100m), Davonye Jones (200m), Michael Gonzalez (pole vault) and Haley Walker (discus). Third Team distinctions were garnered by Jaleisa Shaffer (discus and shot put), Jones (100m) and the 4x100-meter relay team of Monica Johnson, Lyric Choice, Macy Burnham and Aneesa Scott.
The Mean Green qualified in nine events for the NCAA Preliminaries. Anunagba (100m), Jones (100 and 200m), Jack Beaumont (steeplechase), Gonzalez (pole vault), Karl Sralla (discus) and Hill (javelin) competed along with the men's 4x100 and 4x400 relays and the women's 4x100. The top North Texas performers included Beaumont who finished 18th in the field of 48 and Gonzalez's advancement to the NCAA Championships with his qualifying 10th-place finish.
Gonzalez became the first North Texas pole vaulter to qualify for the NCAA Championships in 12 years and the first overall Mean Green representative at the NCAA Finals since 2016. His 17th-place finish in Eugene gained him All-American honorable mention as the seventh Mean Green to collect All-America accolades and the first UNT pole vaulter to do as such.
Five school records were broken throughout the outdoor season. Shaffer improved upon her previous record in shot put to up it to 15.60 meters, and Walker topped the hammer record book with a mark of 56.61 meters. Hill upped his previous javelin mark to 74.09 meters to stay number one in the charts. Beaumont broke his own North Texas track and field record in steeplechase to lower it to 8:53.48, and Gonzalez climbed to number one with his pole vault height of 5.45 meters.
"The program records that were broken this year were truly a self-disciplined accomplishment for each of those individuals," Sheffield said. "Those young people had personal missions they were competing for. It is really good for school record holders to return to the program the following year. It is easier for the rest of their training group to look over and see one of the best ever at UNT training right beside them, and hopefully that motivates them to keep pushing and stepping up to a higher level of performance."
The Mean Green were named C-USA Athletes of the Week on four occasions. Hill was selected twice, while Shaffer and Anunagba each received the award twice.
North Texas track and field also set records in the classroom, with a program-best four Mean Green being named to the 2021 Conference USA Track and Field All-Academic Team. Bailey Ashmore, Caleb Bouchard, Logan Mitchell and Chris Samaniego all were recognized for their efforts.
"We have had a lot of our fourth-year seniors decide to stay and train another year. This is fantastic for their maturation as a collegiate athlete, as well as for the leadership of our team. These individuals have competed at the highest level of our sport. This should make for interesting conversation with the newcomers next year," Sheffield said.
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June 25, 2021 at 09:21PM
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Mean Green Outdoor Season in Review - University of North Texas Athletics - Mean Green Sports
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