ABILENE - Abilene Christian's nationally ranked men's and women's track and field teams accumulated five wins, three NCAA automatic qualifying marks, 14 provisional, and 29 season best performances all within a single day of competition Saturday at
Baylor's Michael Johnson/Dr. Pepper Classic.
The competition for the Wildcats in Waco included multiple Olympic hopefuls and top runners from Baylor, TCU, North Texas, Texas State, UT Arlington, Stephen F. Austin and Angelo State.
Senior
Nick Jones again led the way for ACU in winning both the shot put and discus by sizable margins.
A native of Amarillo, Texas, Jones won the shot put behind an Olympic Trial provisional qualifying toss of 61 feet, 10.25 inches (18.85 meters), which topped the runner-up performance (59-01.50, 18.02m) turned in by unattached competitor Jon Arthur by almost three feet. Chris Adams, a two-time All-American at Ashland (Ohio) University in the late 1990's, placed third with a distance of 59-00.25 (17.99).
In the discus Jones beat TCU junior and runner-up Sean Tabor by 17 feet, 10 inches (5.44m) with a NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 189-10 (57.86m) that served as his fourth of the season.
Jones has won the shot put and discus three times this spring, and remains the top-ranked thrower in NCAA Division II for each event.
Elsewhere in the throws, Baptiste Kerjean easily won the hammer throw for the second time in 2012 with a launch of 201-04 (61.38). His closest competitor was Texas State freshman Darian Brown, whose best effort of 173-11 (53.02m) was nearly 30 feet shy of reaching Kerjean's.
In the women's hammer, all three of ACU's participants recorded provisional marks and season bests led by Alexis Wilder's distance of 170-01 (51.84). Defending Lone Star Conference Field Athlete of the Week Shalaina Lakey recorded a measurement of 164-08 (50.19), while Lauren Hartwick's best toss landed at the 162-06 mark (49.83m).
Long jumper Levance Williams and 400m hurdler Kevin Johnson also won their respective events for the Wildcats.
Williams registered a season best and non-wind aided jump of 25-01.25 (7.65m) in climbing up to a No. 3 DII ranking. His NCAA automatic qualifying leap was his third of the year, but last week's season-best performance at UTEP of 25-02.75 (7.69m) was nullified due to a strong 8.0mps wind.
Jarvis Gotch a freshman out of South Plains finished second to Williams in the long jump, hitting the sand at the 24-08.50 mark (7.53).
Johnson's victory in the 400m hurdles was his first of the season and gave ACU its first provisional qualifier of the year in this event. Johnson, who is also a provisional qualifier in the 100m hurdles with teammate Dennis Bain, won Saturday's race in 53.23 and beat runner-up Joshua Helom of Western Texas by .18 seconds.
Also in the men's sprint events, ACU's 4x100m relay rose to fourth in the DII rankings with a season best time of 40.39, and Paris Robertson clocked a 100m NCAA provisional qualifying time of 10.49 that ranks him ninth. Robertson ran the second leg of the relay and was joined by Bain, Williams, and Jordan Geary.
On the women's side, sprinter Shennae Steele improved on her season best times in the 100m and 200m with NCAA provisional marks of 11.94 and 24.33, and Ayesha Rumble and Emily Hill did the same in the 800m. Rumble moved up to 11th in the DII rankings with her time of 2:12.01, while Hill completed the course with a season best of 2:13.90.
Chloe Susset placed second in the 1500m with a season best and provisional cut of 4:30.10, and in the 110m hurdles, Lexus Williams clocked a personal record of 13.99 that pushed her up to a No. 12 DII ranking.
Williams, along with Steele, and Sydney Smith and Karolyn Palmer finished the 4x100m relay with a NCAA provisional time of 46.51.
