The Wildcat track and field team will take part in the Lone Star Conference Championships at West Texas A&M starting Thursday, and conclude on Saturday night.
It will be the final time ACU will compete in the LSC, with the move to Division I coming next year. The men’s team will look to continue their dominance, as they hope to capture their twentieth consecutive title.
The women also will try their hand at winning their 24th championship out of the past thirty years. Since 1976, ACU track and field has captured eighty individual awards.
“I am really excited about going into conference this week and continuing building on this year,” Head Coach Jerrod Cook said. “I also think everybody realizes we have to pull together and rely on each other to achieve our goals this year.”
At the LSC’s inaugural indoor meet held this past February, senior Jordan Geary was named the outstanding male track athlete, winning the 200-meter dash, 400-meter run and 4×400 relay. On the women’s side, senior Amanda Ouedraogo was named outstanding female field athlete after winning the triple jump behind an ACU record effort of 43 feet-00.50 inches (13.12 meters).
“The men’s and women’s team have done well and we have had many people record their season best in many different events,” Geary said. “We have many people on both teams improving each week.”
Seniors Ayesha Rumble and Chloe Susset are also expected to perform well in the mid-distance races.
Rumble is the LSC’s third-ranked 800m runner (2:110.08) and will also be part of the 4×400. Susset will look to dominate in the steeplechase and the 1500m. Rumble has won the steeplechase in the previous three years.
“When we get to the championships, we’ll have to fight for every single point,” Susset said. “It gives me goose bumps and I hope to surprise our competitors this weekend.”
In the jumps, senior multi-athlete Cassie Brooks is the Wildcats’ top scoring threat in the high jump and long jump. She also ranks second in the conference to Angelo State’s Jordan Gray (5,083) in the heptathlon with 4,954 points.
Senior Baptiste Kerjean is by far the best hammer thrower at ACU and in the LSC. His score of 218-0 (66.44m) is twenty feet better than second place Nick Alejandro of Angelo State.
Kerjean recorded that mark last month at the Mt. SAC Relays. Freshman Andrew Hudson (181-1/55.19m) also has a sizeable advantage in the discus over the rest of the LSC, but he’s still 31 feet off from breaking former Wildcat Andy Kokhanovsky’s conference record of 211-5 (64.44m).
Johnathan Farquharsonalso remains the Wildcats’ top sprinter, a group that also features Geary, freshman Devan Brown and sophomore Osei-Allyene Forte. Farquharson has provisional marks this season in both the 100 (10.36) and 200 (21.23) and helped the 4×100 post a season best time of 40.78, which ranks second only to Incarnate Word in the LSC.
“I feel our performances are a testament to what all the athletes do on a daily basis to prepare for every moment in competition,” Cook said. “Everybody is pushing and elevating their performance to the next level each week and it is very exciting to see.”
The trophy presentations will be conducted Saturday night at 8:20 p.m.
