ABILENE – The ACU men's and women's track and field teams will combine to send a combined 20 athletes and four relays teams to the NCAA Division II outdoor track and field championship meet in Pueblo, Colo.
The meet will be May 24-26 at the Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl on the campus of Colorado State-Pueblo.
The ACU men is the defending outdoor national champion and enters the meet having won five of the last seven outdoor national championships with titles in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011). The Wildcats have won 19 NCAA Division II outdoor national championships.
The ACU women have won 10 NCAA Division II outdoor national championships, but haven't brought home the championship trophy since winning it in 2008 in Walnut, Calif.
The ACU men are sending 11 athletes in 11 events as well as both relays, while the women are sending eight athletes in seven events and two relays.
A pair of ACU athletes are favored to win individual national championships, including senior thrower
Nick Jones, who has won four NCAA Division II individual national championships in his career. Jones – who has won three outdoor titles in the discus – added the indoor title in the shot put to his resume in March.
Jones will be trying to become the first male athlete in NCAA history to win four national championships in the discus in a career. Only one other athlete in NCAA history – UCLA female thrower Seilala Sua (1997-2000) – has won four individual discus titles in a career.
Overall, 23 NCAA athletes (male and female) have won four individual titles in the same track and field event in a career. Included on that list are four ACU greats in men's half-miler Freddie Williams (1984-87), women's triple-jumper Ann Foster (1984-87), women's high-jumper Yolanda Henry (1984-87), and women's 100-meter hurdler Delloreen Ennis-London (1996-99).
Jones won the discus title as a freshman in 2008 and followed it with a win in 2009 before sitting out the 2010 season as a redshirt. He bounced back in 2011 to win the title again with a meet-record throw of 199 feet, 3 inches. His NCAA all-division best throw of 203-3 in 2012 has him ranked No. 1 in the nation heading into the championship meet and puts him third on the all-time NCAA Division II performance list behind former Wildcat and 1996 Olympian Andy Kokhanovsky, who recorded the DII record of 211-5 (64.44m) at the Abilene Invitational on May 9, 1996, and 1988 Olympian Randy Heisler (204-1, 62.22m), who posted his top mark with the University of Indianapolis at the 1984 NCAA Championships.
Jones put on a show at the Lone Star Conference track and field championship last week in Commerce by winning the shot put and discus and adding points in the hammer throw and javelin, two events in which he'd never before competed in as a Wildcat.
Jones, who is already a provisional qualifier in the shot put and discus throw for the U.S. Olympic trials this summer, threw in Friday's final round 64 feet, 2.5 inches – his second personal best of the day and also an ACU record, LSC meet record, and LSC best-ever. It also moved him to the No. 4 performer on the NCAA Division II all-time list and equal No. 6 on the 2012 U.S. collegiate list.
He erased one of the oldest records in the ACU books – 63-10.25 by Ahmed Shata in 1986 at the NCAA Division II national meet in Los Angeles.
Another Wildcat looking to add another national championship to her resume is junior Amanda Ouedraogo, who is ranked No. 1 in the nation in the triple jump. Ouedraogo posted a nation's-best mark of 43 feet, 3.25 inches at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on March 28, and that mark has stood as the top mark in the nation for almost two months.
Ouedraogo is the reigning NCAA Division II indoor national champion in the event, and she was the runner-up at last year's NCAA Division II outdoor championship meet.
On the men's side, several Wildcats qualified in multiple events besides Jones, including Dennis Bain (110 hurdles and on both the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams), Jordan Geary (200 meters, 400 meters and both relays), Banjo Jaiyesimi (800 meters and 4x400 relay), Paris Robertson (100 meters, 200 meters and 4x100 relay), and Levance Williams (long jump, triple jump, and 4x100 relay team).
Those athletes qualifying in one event are Ose Alyene-Forte in the 4x400 relay, Darian Hogg in the long jump, Kevin Johnson in the 110 hurdles, Baptiste Kerjean in the hammer throw, and Parker Petty in the decathlon.
The men's 4x100 relay team enters the meet ranked third in the nation with a best time of 40.01 seconds behind No. 1 Lincoln (Mo.) at 39.57 and No. 2 Texas A&M-Kingsville at 39.71. The ACU 4x400 relay team enters the meet ranked No. 5 in the nation with a season-best time of 3:10.42.
On the women's side, those qualifying for multiple events include Karla Hope (long jump and 4x400 relay), Ayesha Rumble (800 meters and 4x400 relay), Shennae Steele (100 meters, 200 meters and both relay), and Lexus Williams (100 hurdles and both relays). Those qualifying in just one event are Ouedraogo (triple jump), Karolyn Palmer (4x100 relay), Sydney Smith (4x100 relay), and Chloe Susset (3000 meter steeplechase). Heptathlete Cassie Brooks was a late addition to the meet as the ACU coaches were infomed late Wednesday that she had been added to the field.
