University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff junior Cornelia Watts was named the SWAC Women’s Most Outstanding Field Performer after leading UAPB at the 2026 SWAC Indoor Track and Field Championships over the weekend.
UAPB’s men’s and women’s teams each finished seventh in the team standings at the event, which was held Feb. 21-22 at the Birmingham Metro CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala. The Texas Southern men and Florida A&M women won the overall SWAC championships.
Watts provided the Lady Lions 18 of their 38 team points after winning the SWAC championship in the women’s shot put and placing second in the women’s weight throw.
She won the women’s shot put gold medal with ease, with two of her six throws going further than any other competitor. Watts’ final throw of 13.48 meters was her best, though her fourth attempt reached 13.46, still better than Prairie View A&M silver medalist Sanai Kintchen’s best of 13.41.
Watts won silver in the weight throw with two tosses of 16.64 meters. Jackson State freshman Malayna Mallory won gold with a throw of 17.65 meters.
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The UAPB men’s relay team provided the school with its other gold medal over the weekend. Christopher Coleman, Nicholas Byrd, Ross Walrond and Jared Sylvester teamed up to run the 4×400-meter relay in 3:10.48, over 3 seconds better than the silver medalists from Bethune-Cookman. That time was both a UAPB record and SWAC Indoor Championships record.
Sylvester also won an individual medal after claiming silver in the men’s 60-meter dash. The senior’s 6.77-second sprint was 0.07 seconds back from winner Darien Lawrence of Florida A&M.
UAPB junior Kewarny Fletcher grabbed second in the 800-meter run. His run of 1:51.66 was 0.01 seconds faster than Texas Southern junior Michael Strange Jr. Florida A&M senior Kirk Dawkins won the gold.
Walrond provided UAPB its lone bronze medal with a third-place finish in the men’s 200-meter dash. His 21.33-second sprint was 0.01 seconds behind silver medalist Sedgwrick Pitts Jr. of Jackson State. Alcorn State sophomore Derrick Williams won gold.
One other noteworthy performance came from the UAPB women’s 4×400-meter relay team. Cadese Higgins, Kris-Ann Plummer, Serena Douglas and T’Kyla Bennett set a new UAPB record with a time of 3:47.46, which saw them finish eighth.
Separate from last weekend’s meet, Coppin State announced UAPB assistant track and field Coach Natoya Baird-Davidson, a former CSU athlete, would be added to the Coppin State Athletics Hall of Fame.
Baird-Davidson was the 2009 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Most Outstanding Performer and CSU Female Athlete of the Year. She won three MEAC championships, winning the high jump in 2008 and 2009 and the heptathlon in 2009.