TAMPA – The East Carolina track & field team wrapped up the 2023 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships on Sunday.

Royal Burris and Melicia Mouzzon torched the program record books to find themselves on the podium with Burris taking second in both the 100m and 200m and Mouzzon taking third in the 100m – Burris was also a part of the bronze-medal winning 4x100m-relay team. Jared Harrell highlighted the success of the team competition, earning co-Freshman of the Year honors, completing the 2023 sweep after winning the award indoors as well.

The men’s 4x100m team got the party started with an impressive third-place finish for the first podium appearance for ECU Sunday. The team of Burris, Cameron Moore, Zach Ray and Jared Harrell ran a time of 40.44 seconds.

Mouzzon kept things rolling with her 100-meter bronze, shattering her own program record with an electric time of 11.21 seconds. The junior continued her tear with a personal record of 23.38 seconds in the 200m, good for second in ECU history.

Burris followed Mouzzon’s lead as he narrowly missed the program record in the 100m, finishing second in a time of 10.11 seconds, a personal best by nearly a tenth of a second. The junior wouldn’t have to wait long to etch his named atop a record list, though, as his time of 20.20 in the 200m bested by 0.15 seconds Eugene McNeil’s ECU record from 1988, earning Burris another silver medal in the process.

Not to be outdone, Jared Harrell found himself on the podium again in the 4x100m after his long jump victory Saturday in addition to scoring points with his fourth-place effort in the triple jump and seventh-place effort as a part of the 4x400m team. All of those points added up to a statistical tie with Memphis’ Will Dibo for the 2023 AAC Outdoor Men’s Freshman of the Year award.

“We are extremely proud of both teams for competing their hearts out all weekend long,” said Director of Track & Field Curt Kraft. “We had a lot of individual success on both sides. It’s really hard to point to one performance over another because so many were great in their own way. The energy and excitement was unbelievable all weekend long. Before the weekend started off we set many goals, and I feel like we accomplished most of them. Now we have to turn our attention to the NCAA East Regional Championships. We have numerous men and women qualifiers set to move onto Jacksonville. The goal now is to move people onto to Austin, Texas for the NCAA Championships.”

In addition to the above, six more Pirate individuals and two more relays scored points for the team on Sunday.

Nate Williams joined Harrell in scoring in the men’s triple jump while L’Nya Carpenter scored on the women’s side. Logan Carroll registered a fourth-place finish with a PR in the discus while Rebekah Bergquist and Sashoy Benbow both scored in the women’s event.

Sydni McMillan also earned a couple points after making the final in the 100m hurdles. Additionally, the women’s 4x100m and 4x400m teams registered points for the team.

Starrett Vesper did not score Sunday but deserves a mention for his lifetime best pole vault of 4.91m (16-1.25), good for fourth in program history.

ECU Results
Men
100m:Royal Burris, 10.11 (2^nd)
200m:Royal Burris, 20.20 (2^nd)
1,500m:Chase Osborne, 3:51.27 (9^th) | J Henry Lyon, 4:01.84 (11^th)
5,000m:Chase Osborne, 15:07.55 (17^th) | Colin McCauley, 15:13.57 (19^th) | Nick Willer, 15:14.07 (20^th)
4x100m: Moore, Burris, Harrell, Ray, 40.44 (3^rd)
4x400m: Ray, Harrell, Coleman Ferrell, Kayin Fails, 3:17.47 (7^th)
High Jump:Starrett Vesper, 1.75m (10^th)
Triple Jump:Jared Harrell, 14.83m (4^th) | Nate Williams, 14.60m (7^th)
Pole Vault:Starrett Vesper, 4.91m (10^th)
Discus:Logan Carroll, 53.94m (4^th)

Women
100m:Melicia Mouzzon, 11.21 (3^rd)
200m:Melicia Mouzzon, 23.38 (7^th)
5,000m:Alyssa Zack, 17:20.98 (10^th) | Lindsay Yentz, 17:40.73 (16^th) | Jenna Strange, 17:46.26 (17^th) | Hayley Whoolery, 18:11.45 (26^th)
4x100m: Mouzzon, Rosalynd Hollingsworth, Naturi Robinson, Makhia Jarrett, 45.26 (4^th)
4x400m: Jarrett, Nyah Gore, McMillan, Carpenter, 3:44.83 (7^th)
Pole Vault:Rileigh Cardin, 3.52m (11^th)
Triple Jump:L’Nya Carpenter, 12.53m (7^th)
Discus:Rebekah Bergquist, 49.83m (5^th) | Sashoy Benbow, 44.65m (8^th)

Final Team Standings
Men
1. Wichita State – 154
2. Houston – 152
3. Cincinnati – 140
4. Memphis – 104
5. South Florida – 103
6. Tulsa – 85
7. East Carolina – 55
8. Tulane – 26

Women
1. UCF – 163
2. Houston – 105
3. Cincinnati – 93
4. South Florida – 78
5. Tulsa – 72
6. Tulane – 63
7. Wichita State – 59
8. SMU – 56
9. Memphis – 52
10. East Carolina – 43
11. Temple – 35

Up Next
A group of qualifying Pirates will head to the NCAA East Preliminary Round in Jacksonville, Fla. on May 24-27.