ABILENE - The majority of Abilene Christian's track and field athletes will make their outdoor season debuts this weekend when the Wildcats visit Maverick Stadium for UT-Arlington's Bobby Lane Invitational.
The two-day meet begins Friday at 2 p.m. with the men's and women's hammer throws.
Saturday's field events begin at 9 a.m. with the women's pole vault, while the running events won't begin until 1 p.m. with the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase. The last event - the men's 4x400m relay - is slated to begin at 8:10 p.m.
ACU's men are the defending national outdoor track and field champions, and will once again be led by senior and four-time NCAA champion
Nick Jones who claimed his first shot put crown at the indoor championships held earlier this month in Mankato, Minn.
Others returning from last year's national championship squad include junior sprinter Jordan Geary and senior Levance Williams, who also competed alongside Jones at indoor nationals. Williams just missed reaching All-America status with his ninth-place long jump of 23 feet-9.5 inches (7.25m).
Junior Parker Petty is another Wildcat to keep an eye on this outdoor season after he rallied to finish seventh at NCAA Indoors in the heptathlon.
Petty, who finished with 5,032 points, was in 11th place after the first day and again started slowly the second day by finishing 12th in the 60m hurdles to earn 737 points. But he finished tied for third in the pole vault (14-9.00) for 760 points and then won the final event – the 1000 meters – in 2:42.28 to earn 848 points.
Petty continued to shine in his first decathlon of the season held last week at Angelo State, as he won the title with a NCAA DII provisional score of 6,845 points. The White Deer, Texas native registered career bests in the 100m (11.28), shot put (40-0, 12.19m) and 400m (51.21) on the first day in accumulating 3,563 points, and then on day two he equalled his personal record in the pole vault (14-06.75, 4.44m) before blowing away his PR in the 1500 (4:26.09) by almost 20 seconds.
Petty's gargantuan performance in the 1500m not only resulted in a 400-point career best in the decathlon, but also kept him ahead of ASU's Stormy Smothers in the overall standings. Smothers won the 1500m in 4:25.14, but it wasn't enough to eclipse Petty for first place as the Wildcat finished under a second behind him.
ACU's Matthew Stark also competed in the Angelo State decathlon and finished fifth with 6,103 points - 197 short of the provisional mark. Stark had a good first day in which he matches his non-wind aided personal record in the 100 (11.55) and scored career bests in both the long jump (6.47m) and shot put (34-01.25, 10.39m). His only personal record on day two was in the discus, posting a distance of 99-11 (30.46m).
Cassie Brooks, the defending conference champion in the heptathlon, scored 4,257 points to place sixth at Angelo State and recorded her lone career best in the javelin (87-11, 26.79m).
ACU's women's team posted its worst-ever finish at last year's outdoor meet, tying for 29th place with eight points, but enters the 2012 campaign with a handful of promising athletes led by triple jump national champion Amanda Ouedraogo.
Ouedraogo won her first NCAA title in the triple jump at this winter's national meet after having to settle for consecutive runner-up showings in 2011.
A native of Hauts de Seine, France, Ouedraogo posted a mark of 12.84 meters (42-1.50) on her first attempt of the competition and that put her in the lead for good.
ACU also qualified its women's 4x400 relay team for indoor nationals even though it was the last team taken into the field of 11. The quartet of freshman Karolyn Palmer, junior Shennae Steele, junior Ayesha Rumble and senior Karla Hope finished in 3:50.06 to just nip Winston-Salem State (N.C.) – which came in at 3:50.27 – for seventh place.
Hope - a senior and native of Trinidad - also qualified for NCAA competition in the 400m dash after posting the nation's ninth-fastest time of 56.13 at the Lone Star Conference Invitational. She, along with Palmer - a true freshman - and junior transfers Rumble and Steele all made their NCAA debuts this year.
