Alabama track and field athlete John Landers earned a bronze medal in the heptathlon on the second day of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Indoor Championships held in Bryan-College Station, Texas. Landers’ third-place finish added six points to Alabama’s team score. Teammate Patrick Daves contributed three points with his sixth-place result in the same event.
Including performances from both the heptathlon and pentathlon, Alabama collected 23 points overall, with three athletes reaching the podium in multi-events. Katelyn Adel finished second for eight points, while Miracle Ailes secured third place and six points during Thursday’s competition.
On the track, Hamdani Benahmed and Milicent Wafula qualified for Saturday’s finals in the men’s and women’s mile respectively, posting times of 4:03.95 and 4:37.64. Samuel Ogazi, a 2025 All-American and national champion, recorded the fastest time in the men’s 400-meter preliminary round at 45.30 seconds to advance to Saturday’s final.
By the end of day two, Alabama’s women led all teams with 38 points, while the men were ranked third with 24 points.
Looking ahead to day three of competition, field events are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. CT with My’Kell Beck and Khristian Watson competing in men’s high jump. Track events will start at 4:05 p.m., including Milicent Wafula running in the women’s mile final.
Among notable results from day one:
– In heptathlon’s 60m hurdles, Patrick Daves placed second (8.13 seconds) earning a personal record (PR) and John Landers was fourth (8.38 seconds).
– Landers won pole vault by clearing 4.80 meters.
– In the heptathlon’s 1,000m run, Landers finished second with a season-best time of 2:33.09.
– The final point totals saw Landers finishing third overall with 5,588 points; Daves was sixth with a PR total of 5,096 points—fifth best all-time at Alabama.
– Milicent Wafula advanced out of prelims in the women’s mile after placing fourth.
– Hamdani Benahmed qualified tenth for finals in men’s mile prelims.
– Samuel Ogazi topped men’s prelims for the 400m.
– Miracle Ailes tied her personal record by jumping 1.87 meters for fourth place in women’s high jump.
“Landers’ third-place finish (six points) was joined by Patrick Daves, who scored three points off a sixth-place finish in the event,” according to official statements from Alabama Athletics staff.
