ABILENE - Head coach Roosevelt Lofton and Wildcats Jordan Geary,
Nick Jones, and Chloe Susset Thursday claimed four of the Lone Star Conference's six individual track and field awards in recognition of their championship meet efforts. The special awards were voted upon by the league coaches.
Jones, a senior from Amarillo, received the Oscar Strahan Award, which is presented to the meet's outstanding male field athlete.
Geary, a junior from Fort Worth, and Susset, a senior from Clery Vexin, France, each were named the meet's outstanding male (Cap Shelton Award) and female (Wes Kittley Award) track athlete, while Lofton earned men's coach of the year honors.
Jones scored more points than any other student-athlete last weekend with 29 points, leading a 27-man all-conference team that also features Geary and teammates Dennis Bain, Baptiste Kerjean, Parker Petty, Paris Robertson and LeVance Williams.
Student-athletes must score at least 14 points or win an event at the LSC Championships to earn all-conference status.
Competing at his final conference meet, Jones scored 20 points between the shot put and discus, and an additional nine points after placing third in the hammer and sixth in the javelin.
The three-time NCAA Division II discus champion broke the meet record with a second-round throw of 199 feet - 2 inches, and smashed several additional records with a shot put toss of 64-02.50. Jones' final-round effort was his second personal best of the meet and also an ACU, conference, and meet record. It also moved him to the No. 4 position on the NCAA Division II all-time list and sixth on the 2012 U.S. collegiate list.
Geary totaled 18 individual points on the meet's final day, winning the 400-meter dash in 46.79 seconds, and placing second in the 200m with a time of 21.02. Both of his marks were season bests and raised his 200m and 400m national rankings to sixth and eighth, respectively.
Geary also was part of two runner-up 4x100m and 4x400m relays. He ran anchor for the 4x100m relay that registered a NCAA automatic qualifying and nationally third-ranked time of 40.01. Running ahead of Geary were Bain, Robertson and Williams.
Susset tied Morgan Shelton of West Texas A&M for the most points scored at the women's championships with 28, and was joined on the all-conference squad by Wildcats Karla Hope, Amanda Ouedraogo, Ayesha Rumble, Shennae Steele and Lexus Williams.
A NCAA automatic qualifier in the steeplechase, Susset repeated as conference champion in this event for the third consecutive year with a time of 10:44.28, and won the 1,500m for a second straight spring in 4:36.83. Susset captured an additional eight points as the runner-up in the 5K, completing the race in 17:49.58.
Lofton earned his first Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year award after leading his men's team to a narrow victory over favored Texas A&M-Kingsville, 176.33 points to 170.83. It was the 19th consecutive men's championship for ACU, a streak which started in 1993 (the 1995 meet was not completed because of inclement weather so no trophy was awarded).
Lofton last year was named the NCAA Division II Men's National Coach of the Year for both indoor and outdoor track and field.
