By Jared Fields, Editor in Chief

With the indoor season still unfinished, ACU’s track and field team added two automatic men’s qualifiers at Friday’s Oliver Jackson Open for the outdoor championships. Freshmen Tyler Fleet and Nick Jones, both Texas Class 5A state champions last year, earned automatic bids in the discus with throws of 176-10, and 175-11, respectively.

“They’re nowhere near as good as they can be; they’ve got a lot of room to keep getting better,” said head coach Don Hood. “It’s scary to think they can automatically qualify and not be in their best shape or their best form.”

Fleet, who placed second at the meet and won the discus state title last year, won the hammer throw with a distance of 176-7.

“I had a couple of goals to kinda get my feet wet in the first meet,” Fleet said. “Being my first meet, I didn’t really know what to expect.”

The adrenaline from the meet helped Fleet surpass his goals, who said it was, “just kinda shocking actually.” Jones, last year’s state champion in the shot put, placed third in the discus and second in the shot put with a throw of 51-2.25.

“It felt really smooth,” Jones said of his third-place discus throw. “The shot has taken a little bit longer to come along, but it’s a process I guess.”

Not to be outshone, three women posted provisional qualifying marks Friday. Kelli Clements, who competes in the indoor championships in the shot put this week, threw a provisional mark in the shot put Friday with a distance of 46-2 to place second.

In the discus, Paige Newby threw 150-7 for third place and a provisional mark. Newcomer Linda Brivule threw the javelin 145-0 and won the event Friday.

The next meet for the ACU track team is the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships in Mankato, Minn., Friday and Saturday.