Complete Bobby Lane Invitational Results
ARLINGTON - Abilene Christian's national indoor track and field champions
Nick Jones and Amanda Ouedraogo began the 2012 outdoor season by recording NCAA Championship automatic qualifying marks at this weekend's UT-Arlington Bobby Lane Invitational.
Jones launched a throw of 60 feet, 7.25 inches in the shot put to rank him first among all NCAA Division II student-athletes, while Ouedraogo covered a second-ranked distance of 40-10.5 in the triple jump.
In addition to their accomplishments, ACU also collected NCAA provisional marks from throwers Tara Riley and Baptiste Kerjean, hurdlers Dennis Bain and Kevin Johnson, sprinter Paris Robertson, and the women's sprint relay.
Kerjean - a junior from St. Brieuc, France - had a big outdoor debut for the Wildcats in which he recorded a distance of 199-5 that ranks him first in DII. Bain and Johnson clocked respective times of 14.25 and 14.35 in the 110-meter hurdles to rank third and seventh on the NCAA's proof of performance list, while Robertson currently ranks sixth in the 200m with his time of 21.39.
ACU's sprint relay of Karolyn Palmer, Lexus Williams, Shennae Steele and Karla Hope clocked a third-ranked time of 46.28, which is over a second faster than anything run last year by the Wildcats.
Riley recorded a big personal record in the discus of 146-10, which is her first provisional mark in this event and ranks third in DII.
Several additional ACU throwers began the outdoor season with personal records, including Milo Parsons in the shot put (46-1.5), Shalania Lakey in the discus (128-3), and Lauren Hartwick in the hammer (156-8). Aaron Bynum posted career bests in the hammer (149-7) and javelin (172-2), while Cassie Brooks - a heptathlete - registered her first javelin throw over 100 feet (100-5).
On the track, both Erik Forrister and Will Pike PR'ed in the 1,500m and 5K. Forrister recorded times of 4:12.98 and 15:35.01, while Pike completed the courses in 4:04.11 and 15:14.83. Pike placed fourth in the 5K at last year's Lone Star Conference Championships.
The Wildcats return to action later this week at the Texas Relays in Austin.
