TRACK AND FIELD SEASON PREVIEW VIDEO WITH COACHES ROOSEVELT LOFTON & JERROD COOK
ABILENE – The Abilene Christian men's and women's track and field teams enjoyed another stellar weekend while competing at the Air Force and New Mexico Invitationals. The Wildcats combined for three victories, 19 NCAA provisional marks and two automatics with freshman Elea Diarra qualifying in the 400-meter dash.
All-America Amanda Ouedraogo recorded her second NCAA automatic qualifying triple jump in as many weeks, this time producing a season-best effort of 41 feet-6.5 inches (12.66 meters). However, she still remains second to Angelo State's Kearah Danville in the D-II rankings. Danville started her indoor season at Texas Tech with a leap of 41-11.25 (12.75m).
Ouedraogo's personal best of 42-4.75 was recorded last February at the New Balance Invitational in New York City.
Diarra – a 2012 London Olympian with France – won the 400m title at the Albuquerque Convention Center Saturday afternoon with a season-best time of 54.94 seconds. New Mexico State's Brianna Cromartie was a close second with a time of 55.07.
Diarra also won the 400m last week at Texas Tech's Masked Rider Open, and her time today was the sixth fastest ever recorded in ACU's history, placing her in between Yolande Straughn's 54.48 and Keva Wilkins' 55.14.
Samantha Edwards of Virginia State has the best 400m time this season among all NCAA D-II athletes with a mark of 54.58 seconds. Diarra is currently in second, just .05 seconds ahead of third-ranked Michelle Cumberbatch of Lincoln (Mo.).
Diarra this weekend also improved her national ranking in the 200m to No. 20 after finishing 10th in 24.78. Her teammate and fellow 2012 Olympian Reyare Thomas won the 200m in 24.16 in moving up to fifth, while senior Shennae Steele came across in eighth with a 14th-ranked time of 24.69.
New Mexico State's Cromartie again was the runner-up, this time clocking a second-place mark of 24.22.
In the 60m, Thomas edged New Mexico Junior College's Sharrona Williams by .01 seconds, 7.58 to 7.59, for her second win of the weekend. Thomas' mark in this event ranks her eighth in D-II, while Steele, who recorded a prelim time of 7.69, ranks 22nd nationally.
Elsewhere in the women's track events at New Mexico, Ayesha Rumble placed second in the 800m with a 15th-ranked provisional time of 2:16.15, Chloe Susset climbed to third nationally in the mile behind a time of 5:00.29, and Lexus Williams recorded a mark of 8.87 to place sixth in the hurdles.
ACU's men's sprinters were equally solid this weekend. Freshman Johnathan Farquharson finished seventh and fourth, respectively, in the 60m and 200m with NCAA provisional cuts of 6.81 and 21.53. Senior Jordan Geary placed two spots behind Farquharson in the 200m at 21.66 and improved his ranking in the 400m to 14th after placing fifth overall in 48.33.
Geary also ran anchor in New Mexico for a 4x400m relay that posted a runner-up and provisional time of 3:17.94. Running ahead of him were Osei Allyene-Forte, Banjo Jaiyesimi and Darian Hogg.
Freshman hurdler Jeremy Tatham added his name to the list of ACU provisional qualifiers, coming in fifth in the 60m hurdles at 8.27.
The majority of ACU's multi-athletes and throwers were at the Air Force Academy, where senior Baptiste Kerjean recorded a personal best in the weight throw of 58-07.25 (17.86m) to place fifth overall, while veterans Matthew Stark and Parker Petty registered NCAA provisional scores in their first heptathlon of the season.
Stark, a native of Abilene, moved up from 13th to seventh during the second day of competition, which included a personal record 8.97 in the 60 hurdles and matching his pole vault record of 14-01.25 (4.30m). His final score of 4,725 points is a personal best by 410 points.
Petty scored 4,714 points to place eighth out of the 21 competitors, while freshman Luke Woods was 306 points shy of the provisional standard with a 14th-place total of 4,294 points. Woods had the fastest time of the three Wildcats in the 60 hurdles at 8.69 seconds, vaulted 11-01.75 feet in his first ever pole vault competition, and was neck-and-neck with Petty in the 1000m.
Senior Cassie Brooks placed sixth overall out of 35 pentathletes with a personal best total of 3,281 points, falling only 19 points off the D-II provisional mark.
ACU Results From The Air Force Invitational
Shot Put
25.) Jelani Rainey – 40-00.00 (12.19m)
Weight Throw
5.) Baptiste Kerjean – *58-07.25 (17.86m)
Decathlon
7.) Matthew Stark – 4,725 points (ranked 13th in D-II)
[60 – 7.51 (710 pts.) | LJ – 20-07.00/6.27m (646 pts.) | SP – 33-04.75/10.17m (496 pts.)
HJ – 6-00.00/1.82m (653 pts.) | 60H – 8.97 (752 pts.) | PV – 14-01.25/4.30m (702 pts.) | 1000 – 2:49.97]
8.) Parker Petty – 4,714 points (ranked 17th in D-II)
[60 – 7.35 (762 pts.) | LJ – 20-03.75/6.19m (628 pts.) | SP – 38-07.50/11.77m (592 pts.)
HJ – 5-10.75/1.79m (627 pts.) | 60H – 9.32 (677 pts.) | PV – 14-09.00/4.50m (702 pts.) | 1000 – 2:59.57]
13.) Luke Woods – 4,294 points
[60 – 7.37 (755 pts.) | LJ – 19-09.75/6.03m (595 pts.) | SP – 35-10.50/10.93m (542 pts.)
HJ – 5-02.50/1.58m (457 pts.) | 60H – 8.69 (816 pts.) | PV – 11-01.75/3.40m (702 pts.) | 1000 – 2:59.24]
60 Hurdles (prelims)
9.) Cassie Brooks – 9.08
60 Hurdles (finals)
7.) Cassie Brooks – 9.07
Shot Put
12.) Tara Riley – 39-10.50 (12.50m)
25.) Lauren Hartwick – 32-09.75 (10.00m)
Weight Throw
13.) Lauren Hartwick – 49-08.25 (15.14m)
16.) Shalania Lakey – 48-05.50(14.77m)
Pentathlon
6.) Cassie Brooks – 3,281 pts.
[60H – 9.03 (904 pts.) | HJ – 5-1/1.54m (678 pts.) | SP – 38-11.50/11.87m (653 pts.) | LJ – 16-10.75/5.14m (601 pts.) | 800m – 2:51.76 (445 pts.)]
ACU Men's Results From The New Mexico Invitational
60 Meters (prelims)
4.) Johnathan Farquharson – 6.81*
31.) Keaton Hart – 7.26
60 Meters (finals)
7.) Johnathan Farquharson – 6.83
60 Meter Hurdles (prelims)
7.) Jeremy Tatham – 8.50
60 Meter Hurdles (finals)
5.) Jeremy Tatham – 8.27* (35th ranked in D-II)
200 Meters
4.) Johnathan Farquharson – 21.53* (10th ranked in D-II)
6.) Jordan Geary – 21.66* (11th ranked in D-II)
15.) Osei Allyene-Forte – 22.46
23.) Devin Brown – 22.85
400 Meters
5.) Jordan Geary – 48.33* (14th ranked in D-II)
17.) Osei Allyene-Forte – 49.88
21.) Jeremy Tatham – 53.28
600 Meters
2.) Banjo Jaiyesimi – 1:20.70
800 Meters
5.) Banjo Jaiyesimi – 1:56.10
Mile
17.) Xavier King – 4:26.06
23.) Taylor Ochs – 4:57.05
24.) Gary Duncan – 5:23.46
3000 Meters
7.) Xavier King – 9:06.29
20.) Gary Duncan – 10:58.64
21.) Taylor Ochs – 11:26.73
4x400-Meter Relay
2.) ACU 'A' – 3:17.94* (27th ranked in D-II)
(Osei Allyene-Forte, Banjo Jaiyesimi, Darian Hogg, Jordan Geary)
6.) ACU 'B' – 3:29.52
Long Jump
12.) Darian Hogg – 22-01.00 (6.73m)
14.) Keaton Hart – 21-05.50 (6.54m)
Triple Jump
6.) Malcolm Barnes – 45-06.25 (13.87m)
8.) Darian Hogg – 44-06.75 (13.58m)
ACU Women's Results From The New Mexico Invitational
60 Meters (prelims)
4.) Shennae Steele – 7.69* (22nd ranked in D-II)
7.) Reyare Thomas – 7.72*
26.) Lexus Williams – 8.19
60 Meters (finals)
1.) Reyare Thomas – 7.58* (8th ranked in D-II)
7.) Shennae Steele – 7.75
60 Meters Hurdles (prelims)
4.) Lexus Williams – 8.87* (26th ranked in D-II)
60 Meters Hurdles (finals)
6.) Lexus Williams – 8.87*
200 Meters
1.) Reyare Thomas – 24.16* (5th ranked in D-II)
8.) Shennae Steele – 24.69* (14th ranked in D-II)
10.) Elea Diarra – 24.78* (20th ranked in D-II)
23.) Karolyn Palmer – 25.51
31.) Lexus Williams – 26.35
400 Meters
1.) Elea Diarra – 54.94# (2nd ranked in D-II; 6th fastest at ACU)
15.) Karolyn Palmer – 59.28
600 Meters
3.) Ayesha Rumble – 1:35.17 (15th ranked in D-II)
12.) Emily Hill – 1:39.89
800 Meters
2.) Ayesha Rumble – 2:16.15
Mile
3.) Chloe Susset – 5:00.29* (3rd ranked in D-II)
4x400 Meter Relay
4.) ACU 'A' – 3:50.06*
Long Jump
9.) Amanda Ouedraogo – 16-08.50 (5.09m)
Triple Jump
2.) Amanda Ouedraogo – 41-06.50 (12.66m#) (2nd ranked in D-II)
