By Jared Fields, Editor in Chief
Desmond Jackson posted two automatic times, and the ACU men’s and women’s track and field teams added more qualifiers for the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships next month.
“Honestly, for as hard as we’ve been working, I thought we ran pretty well,” said head coach Don Hood. “I thought we looked pretty good as a whole.”
Jackson placed second in both the 55- and 200-meters at the Texas Tech Invitational with times of 6.32 and 21.42, respectively.
“I didn’t know I was going to do that good,” Jackson said about his performance in the 55-meters. “In the 200, I was just anxious to get an automatic time. I was close last time, and I felt like I had it in me to get an automatic mark.”
Jackson’s times rank him seventh in Division II in the 60m and second in the 200m.
After Jackson’s showing in Lubbock, Hood is placing Jackson on the men’s 4×400-meter relay this weekend in Arkansas in hopes to improve the relay’s ranking.
The men’s 4×400-relay team posted a time of 3:18.19 at Tech and have yet to settle on a team of four for the relay.
Raymond Radway strained his hip during the meet and was replaced by Billy Walker in the 4×400 relay. While Radway is expected to return to the meet this weekend, Jackson will take freshman Joe Fields’ place on the relay for this meet.
“I’m just trying to do some combinations,” Hood said. “Joe is already in the national meet in the distance relay and has already been to Arkansas once. I’ve got to look at the long haul.”
In the men’s 55-meter hurdles, two Wildcats posted near automatic times.
In prelims, Billy Walker ran the second-fastest time at 7.58, but teammate Andrew McDowell bettered him in the finals with a time of 7.56 to finish second. However, Walker’s previous provisional time bests McDowell’s recent mark. Walker and McDowell’s times are less than a tenth from an automatic time and currently rank them Nos. 5 and 7 in Division II.
The only women’s sprinter to post a provisional time was Kim Prather in the 200 with a time of 24.70.
The other provisional marks for both teams came from the field events. Kelli Clements, an indoor all-American in the shotput last year, recorded a new personal best with a throw of 46-10.25, placing her fourth in Division II.
Stephen Toler jumped 16-2.75 in the pole vault for a provisional mark, just ahead of teammates Cory Altenberg and Landon Ehlers who jumped 15-9.00.
Gerald Chenyi posted a provisional mark in the triple jump with a distance of 48-2.50, but Hood said it could have been better.
“Chenyi jumped really well, but was a foot behind the board,” Hood said.
