Berry, van den Ham Lead East Texas A&M at SLC Championships

Courtesy of ETAMU Athletics

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (TXAN 24) — East Texas A&M opened the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships with a strong showing Thursday, highlighted by a 1-2 finish in the women’s pole vault at Homer Bryce Stadium.

Freshman Peyton Berry captured the conference title after clearing 12-8.25, winning the tiebreaker over teammate Kira van den Ham and UIW’s Alaine Hernandez based on fewer attempts. Van den Ham secured silver after also clearing the same height. Berry becomes the first Lion to sweep the indoor and outdoor pole vault titles in the same season since Minna Svaerd in 2021-22.

The Lion women ended day one in third place with 26 team points, trailing Stephen F. Austin and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

East Texas A&M also picked up points in the women’s long jump, where Rivka Goede placed fourth and Tina Samson finished sixth. On the track, Niamh Le’Gall advanced to the finals in the 200-meter dash, while Anete Randma qualified for the 1,500-meter finals.

For the men, East Texas A&M earned points in the javelin as Jonas Gran finished sixth and Joshua Kommer placed eighth. Oguz Uyar and Enoch Fosuhene posted the two fastest qualifying times in the men’s 200 meters to advance to the finals.

The Southland Conference Outdoor Championships continue Friday in Nacogdoches.