By Sam Bartee

The ACU Wildcats started the 2010 indoor track and field season on the right foot at the Leonard Hilton Memorial Invitational in Houston on Friday. A combined four athletes posted qualifying marks for the NCAA Division II indoor championship meet.

On the men’s side, Andrew McDowell finished third in the 60-meter hurdles with an automatic qualifying time of 7.99 seconds. Ramon Sparks provisionally qualified in the triple jump, finishing third with a mark of 48-9 1/2. For the women, Wanda Hutson placed two provisional qualifying marks, while Jessica Blair automatically qualified in one event and provisionally qualified in another. Blair punched her ticket to the championship meet with a second-place finish in the pole vault, finishing second with an automatic qualifying mark of 12-7 1/2. Blair also provisionally qualified for the indoor championship meet in the triple jump, finishing seventh with a mark of 38-2 3/4. Hutson provisionally qualified in the 60-meter and the 200-meter. She was second in the 200 with a time of 25.18 and seventh in the 60 with a time of 7.50. The Wildcats will be back in action next weekend at the Texas Tech Indoor Invitational in Lubbock.