GAINESVILLE, FLA -- The Peach Belt Conference will hold its inaugural indoor track & field championships this Monday, Feb. 19, at the Alachua County Sports & Events Center at Celebration Pointe in Gainesville, Fla. Events will begin at 9:00 am and continue to 4:50 pm. There will be an awards presentation afterwards. Event tickets can be purchased here.
Six teams will compete at the meet with four PBC core members and two associate members. Columbus State, Clayton State, Lander and USC Beaufort will be joined by Embry-Riddle, who is also an associate member in PBC outdoor track & field, and Central State University, making their PBC championship debut.
The championship wraps up a very successful first season of PBC indoor track & field.
Women
PBC athletes set 11 NCAA provisional marks in the 2023-24 regular season. One of the events that features multiple provisional marks will be the mile, where Flagler's Taylor Stone ran 11 seconds under the NCAA mark in 4:45.98 at the Grand Valley State University Big Meet on Feb. 9, the fastest in the PBC this year. Embry-Riddle's Mackenzie Keller also set a provisional mark with a time of 4:56.05 at the Florida Collegiate Invitational in January, run at the Alachua County Sports & Events Center.
Flagler and Embry-Riddle also both set NCAA provisional times in the distance medley relay. ERAU ran an 11:53.88 at Boston University last week while Flagler turned in an 11:55.77 at the Florida Collegiate Invitational.
On the field side, the triple jump will feature Embry-Riddle sophomores Mikaela Miles and Cerenity Daise. Miles jumped a 12.07m at the RADD Invitational in January while Daise hit 11.77m at the Florida University Last Chance on Feb. 9.
Other performers to watch include Clayton State's Ariyonna Jones who set an NCAA provisional mark in the 400 with a time of 56.77. She also ran the fastest 200 in the PBC.
Central State's Amarianna Lofton hit a provisional time in the 60m hurdles with an 8.76 at the Trojan Invitationl in January. She also hit an NCAA mark in the high jump at 1.75m, nearly 2/10ths higher than any other PBC jumper this season.
Men
PBC men's athletes hit seven NCAA provisional marks this season. Two of those came in the 800m and both were from Embry-Riddle. Sophomore Jacob Fritz ran a 1:51.00 at the Florida University Last Chance just last week while junior Jacob D'Aleo hit 1:51.85 at the Celebration Pointe Classic earlier this month. Both events were held at the Alachua Events Center.
Embry-Riddle junior Brendon Shae hit a pair of provisional marks this season. He ran the 3000m in 8:14.33 at Boston University last week and a 5000m in 14:24.88 at the Florida Collegiate in January. Both times are the fastest in the PBC this season, both 13 seconds ahead of the next nearest competitor.
Central State's Jeremiah Cadet enters the PBC Championships as the fastest man in the conference. The sophomore hit an NCAA mark in the 60m with a 6.82 at the Cedarville Collegiate Indoor Invitational earlier this month. ERAU's David Brown also set an NCAA mark with a 8.11 in the 60 hurdles which he did at the RADD Invitational.
On the field side, ERAU's Antonio Cates smashed the NCAA mark in the triple jump by nearly 1/2 meter, soaring 14.99 at the Florida University Last Chance. That mark is nearly two feet more than any other PBC jumper this season.
Live scoring for the PBC Championships can be found here.