BIRMINGHAM, Ala.  – The Prairie View A&M men's track and field team are set to compete in the 2020 SWAC Indoor Track and Field Championship at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
Having seen a variety of surfaces this year, the Panthers look to improve on last season's fifth-place result.

"All the meets leading up to this meet have prepared us to be able to run any type of track," said PVAMU Head Men's Track and Field Coach Chris Clay.

On the track, the Panthers have several names to watch. Freshman Devonte Jones enters the competition ranked No. 3 on the conference performance list in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.84 seconds, which he set a season best run during the 2020 Jayhawk Classic. Jason Mabry is a dark horse to watch for medal contention, ranking seventh in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.31 seconds. Mabry has advance to the finals of every meet this season.

Junior Carl Jordan is the SWAC's No. 1 ranked 200-meter sprinter after posting a time of 21.47 seconds during the Texas Tech Invitational. Jones is ranked No. 2 with a time of 21.73 seconds, set during the same event.

The Panthers also enter the two-day competition with the top 4x400-meter relay team in the SWAC as Nasir Pate, Timothy Demeritt, Damien Cobbs and Jordan are just ahead of the pack with a time of 3:14.19.
The Panthers have four athletes ranked in the top-7 as far as the 400-meter dash, led by Demeritt. The sophomore leads all SWAC sprinters with a time of 48.33 seconds, and Jordan is third with a time of 48.62 seconds.

In the distance events, senior Levante Williams ranks fifth on the performance lists in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:57.97 and is top on the team in the 3,000-meter run (9:32.71). Freshman Alex Medford holds the top 800-meter time among PVAMU athletes at 1:59.41, and freshman Jarrel Reynolds leads the team in the mile run (4:33.02).

In the field events, defending pole vault conference champion senior Sunne Rodriguez-Weems holds the top height in the league at 5.05 meters.  Along with teammates senior Tristian Ham (5.01m) and sophomore Cameron Carson (4.25m), which are ranked second and third.  The pole vault should be an area the Panthers shine.

Deante Crittenden is ranked third on the SWAC performance list in the high jump (2.00 meters). Victor Collins is ranked No. 5 in the league in regards to the long jump (6.96m) and Jonathan Ewulo holds the best triple jump mark in the SWAC with a mark of 14.90 meters.

Senior Jovondi Williams looks to lead the Panthers in both the shot put and weight throw.
"I expect them to do their best," Clay said. "We are loaded in certain areas … we have strengths in the men's pole vault and jumping events. We also have strengths in our running events, but most importantly we are evenly spread out across events."

CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL:
The first day of the 2020 SWAC Indoor Track and Field Championship will be Thursday with the first event set to begin at 8:30 a.m. inside the Birmingham CrossPlex. Live Updates can be found at: https://results.durhamstriders.com/meets/5209 . You can also watch the action live on the SWAC Digital Sports Network.