Daytona Beach, Fla. – The Augusta University men's track and field team closed out the Peach Belt Conference Championship hosted by Embry-Riddle University at the ERAU Track Complex After the second and final day of action, the Jaguar men finished third with a score of 132 points.

"Proud of how our men ran this past couple of days to finish 3rd and move up one spot from last year," said head Coach Jacob Burgamy. "Our sprint crew has developed a lot in the past year and was able to come away with about 32 points today, an 18 point increase from last year. The distance boys really showed out as well, taking away 68 points, 14 of the 24 possible scoring places, and 6 of the 9 possible podium places across the 5k, 10k, & 3k steeple. The field crew had a few tough breaks but our depth was enough for us to still pull out enough points to make us a close 3rd overall. I'm very proud of the development the team as a whole is showing and excited about what we're building here."

Team Standings
1. Embry-Riddle
2. Flagler
3. Augusta
4. Columbus State
5. Clayton State
6. USC Beaufort
7. Lander

Awards 

Men's Track & Field All-Conference Team 
(Top 3 finishers in each event)

Mason Ranson - 100m - 2nd
Mason Ranson - 200m - 1st
Amir Dayal - 400m - 3rd
Avery Jaynes - 5000m - 2nd
Thomas Rischar - 5000m - 3rd
Avery Jaynes - 10000m - 1st 
Thomas Rischar - 10000m -  3rd
Andrew Todd - 3000m steeplechase - 2nd
Andrew Helfers - 3000m steeplechase - 3rd
Caine Varnell - decathlon - 2nd

Noah Shepherd - All Sportsmanship Team 

Results 

Freshman Mason Ranson made the most of his first PBC championship, hitting the podium twice. Ranson used a time of 21.7- in the 200m to take first overall. In the 100m, he finished second overall in 10.58. 

Amir Dayal registered an all-conference performance in the 400m, clocking his lap in 49.23 for third place.

David Garcia paced the Jaguar squad in the 800m, finishing 12th in 1:56.82. Noah Shepherd (1:57.41) finished 16th, Patrick Rowan (1:57.57) finished 17th, and Amir Dayal (2:23.15) finished 27th. 

Patrick Motes had a top five finish in the 1500m finals to lead AU runners in the event. Motes finished in 3:55.44. David Garcia (3:59.90) was 11th, Andrew Todd (4:01.39) was 13th, and Noah Shepherd (4:21.25) carded 22nd.

In what has become a marquee of the program, Augusta distance runners were dominant. Augusta had seven entries in the 10k - all seven finished in the top 10. Avery Jaynes took home first place with a time of 30:38.40. Thomas Rischar finished less than 10 seconds later in third. 

10,000m
1 Avery Jaynes 30:38.40 10
3 Thomas Rischar 30:46.11 6
5 Jordan Robertson 31:10.86 4
7 Cameron Watson 31:42.82 2
8 Matthew Moore 31:46.05 1
9 Nasrudin Mohamed  32:17.18
10 Eli Corn 32:28.84 

All eight AU entries in the 1500m finished in the top 20 and five finished in the top 10. Jaynes carded second and Rishar again finished third. 

5000m
2 Avery Jaynes 14:36.38 8
3 Thomas Rischar 14:38.55 6
5 Patrick Motes 14:51.18 4
7 Jordan Robertson  14:56.33 2
8 Nasrudin Mohamed  14:58.84 1
12 Matthew Moore  15:18.61 
14 Cameron Watson  15:34.65 
17 Eli Corn  15:45.09 

In the 3000m steeplechase, Andrew Todd finished second with a time of 9:28.59. Andrew Helfers also saw the podium with his time of 9:38.82. Andrew Cole (9:44.55) was fourth and Gabriel Best (9:47.66) was fifth. 

In the 400m hurdles, Sawyer Whatley ran a season-best 58.33 to finish seventh overall. 

AU's 4x100m relay squad ( Daniel Forrester, Grace Sangwa, Charlie Roberts, and Jason Cruise) finished sixth in 42.63.

Charlie Roberts, Caine Varnell, Roberto Barrera, and Amir Dayal made up the 4x400m team that was top five overall, finishing their race in 3:21.58. 

In the high jump, Patrick Rowan hit a 1.77 mark for seventh place and Grace Sangwa hit a 1.72m mark for eighth place. Sangwa also finished fifth in the long jump (6.88m) and fifth in the triple jump (13.48m).

Josh Bowen turned in three top 10 finishes in throwing events. He was fourth in the shot put (13.99m), ninth in the  discus (38.61m), and seventh in the javelin throw (50.77m). 

Aaron Maxwell was eighth in the shot put with a 12.80m mark, Ryan Li also turned in eighth in the javelin with a 47.59m mark. 

Caine Varnell hit a NCAA DII provisional mark in the decathlon. His 5321 points were enough for second. 

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