ABILENE - There were many stellar performances produced this weekend by the Abilene Christian track and field team, but none finer than those delivered by senior
Nick Jones and junior Amanda Ouedraogo at the prestigious New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York City.
Ouedraogo finished third in the triple jump with a leap of 42 feet, 4.75 inches (12.92m) that not only moved her to the top of the DII performance list, but into second-place all-time at ACU behind Mazel Thomas' indoor school record of 42-08.25 set in 1988.
Ouedraogo recorded her mark during her second attempt and along the way beat 20 DI competitors from schools such as Clemson, Baylor and Alabama. The only jumpers to beat Ouedraogo were Long Island University senior Jessie Gaines (13.14m) and 2010 Commonwealth Silver Medalist Ayanna Alexander (12.94m), who was competing unattached.
As for Jones, he set a new ACU indoor school record in the shot put with a distance of 61 feet - 5 inches (18.72m) and finished fourth overall behind a trio of Texas Longhorns led by Jacob Thormaehlen's winning toss of 65-03.25 (19.89m). Finishing behind Jones, however, were more than 50 additional competitors, most of whom represented DI institutions.
Jones' throw currently ranks third in all of DII this season behind Daniel Vanek of Grand Valley State (62-07.75) and Derrick Vicars of Findlay (61-05.50). His previous personal best and school record of 59-10.50 was recorded at last March's NCAA DII Championships.
Additional highlights from the N.Y.C. Armory included Shennae Steele lowering her NCAA provisional time in the 200-meter dash to a track-adjusted 25.02, and Chloe Susset recording her first provisional mark of the year in the mile. Susset ran a track-adjusted 4:57.77, which is the 10th fastest in DII.
Elsewhere on the track, both Ayesha Rumble and Emily Hill registered personal records in the 800m. Rumble's time of 2:16.04 just missed the provisional standard by a few one-hundredths of a second. Hill ran a 2:18.36.
Closer to home in Lubbock, Texas at the Texas Tech Open, ACU received some impressive performances from several throwers. Alexis Wilder improved her provisional mark in the weight throw to 54-09.25, and on the men's side, Milo Parsons recorded a personal record in the shot put of 49-8.25.
French hammer thrower Baptiste Kerjean tossed the weight 51-09.25 in his Wildcat debut.
ACU Track and Field returns to action in two weeks for the Lone Star Conference Invitational, which will take place Feb. 19-20 at the Texas Tech Athletic Training Center.
New Balance Collegiate Invitational Men's Results
New Balance Collegiate Invitational Women's Results
Texas Tech Open Results
ACU/New Balance Collegiate Invitational Results
Men 60 Meter Dash Championship (prelims)
33.) Paris Robertson - 6.94
Men 60 Meter Dash College (prelims)
7.) Levance Williams - 6.97
Men 60 Meter Dash College (
finals)
3.) Levance Williams - 6.96
Men 200 Meter Dash College (
prelims)
22.) Dennis Bain - 22.34
Men 200 Meter Championship (prelims)
44.) Paris Robertson - 22.65
Men 400 Meter Dash Championship (
prelims)
32.) Jordan Geary - 49.57
Men 400 Meter Dash College (
prelims)
60.) Osei Allyene-Forte - 51.21
Men 800 Meter Run College
29.) Banjo Jayesimi - 1:56.39
Men Mile Run College
44.) Daniel Gilmer - 4:21.79
Men 60 Meter Hurdle Championship
24.) Dennis Bain - 8.11
Men Long Jump Championship
23.) Levance Williams - 4.29m (14-1.00)
Men Shot Put Championship
4.)
Nick Jones - 18.72m (61-5.00)
Women 60 Meter Dash Championship (prelims)
50.) Shennae Steele - 7.77
Women 60 Meter Dash College (prelims)
70.) Karolyn Palmer - 8.03
Women 200 Meter Dash College (prelims)
5.) Shennae Steele - 24.72
94.) Karolyn Palmer - 27.03
Women 200 Meter Dash College (finals)
4.) Shennae Steele - 24.79
p.) Shennae Steele - 24.72
Women 800 Meter Run College
18.) Ayesha Rumble - 2:16.04
35.) Emily Hill - 2:18.65
Women Mile Championship
19.) Chloe Susset - 4:57.17
Women Triple Jump Championship
3.) Amanda Ouedraogo - 12.92m (42-04.75)
ACU/Texas Tech Open Results
Women Shot Put
4-B.) Tara Riley - 12.31m (40-04.75)
7-B.) Alexis Wilder - 11.99m (39-04.00)
9-B.) Lauren Hartwick - 11.22m (36-09.75)
Women Weight Throw
3.) Alexis Wilder - 16.69m (54-09.25)
4.) Shalania Lakey - 15.78m (51-09.25)
Men 400 Meter Dash
54.) Matthew Stark - 53.89
58.) Blair Agan - 55.85
Men 3000 Meter Run
17.) Erik Forrister - 9:10.68
22.) Trey Knight - 9:16.94
Men 55 Meter Hurdles
q.) Michael Rasor - 7.85
9.) Michael Rasor - 7.90
24.) Matthew Stark - 8.84
Men Shot Put
2.) Milo Parsons - 15.14m (49-08.25)
Men Weight Throw
6-B.) Baptiste Kerjean - 15.78m (51-09.25)
7-B.) Milo Parsons - 14.91m (48-11.00)
8-B.) Aaron Bynum - 14.77m (48-05.50)
