A handful of track and field athletes traveled this week to Des Moines, Iowa for the 105th annual Drake Relays.
The prestigious meet at the Drake University campus includes several top teams from across the country such as Georgia, Baylor, Notre Dame, Purdue, Missouri and Air Force.
ACU only a small group of top-performing athletes, including Daniel Block, Johnathan Farquharson, Baptiste Kerjean, Amelia Mitchell and Lexus Williams. Although the university and college division of the meet began Wednesday, the Wildcats will not compete until today when Williams was scheduled to run the women’s 100-meter hurdles at 9:30 a.m.
Williams is ranked third in the Southland Conference in the women’s 100-meter hurdles with a personal season best of 13.83. She is just .85 seconds behind competitor Tiffani McReynolds of Baylor, who is currently ranked sixth nationally in the event with a 12.89 and will be in the same heat as Williams on Friday.
Williams will be followed by Farquharson, who is running the men’s 100-meter dash at 12:30 p.m. Farquharson holds second place in the Southland Conference in the men’s 100m with a 10.34 and is also ranked eighth in the 200m with a 21.24.
Amelia Mitchell is entered in the women’s javelin scheduled at 1 p.m. on Friday. Mitchell is ranked fifth in conference with her 44.52m throw from the Texas Relays.
The Wildcats’ men’s team will also compete in three group relays on Friday: the 4x100m, 4×400 and the 4×200. The 4x100m team is ranked second in conference, while the 4×400 is ranked ninth and the 4×200 is 11th.
ACU is only entered in two events on Saturday. Kerjean will compete in the men’s hammer throw at 12:15 p.m., hoping for another victory to add to his impressive record this season. Kerjean recently won the event at the Oklahoma Invitational last Saturday and has a personal record of 66.33m, ranking him first in the Southland Conference.
Junior Block will run at 1:50 p.m. on Saturday in the men’s 800-meter sprint, an event in which he has placed consistently high throughout the season. He is ranked third in the Southland Conference in the event with a 1:51.27, a time he hopes to beat Saturday amidst tough competition. Block will also run anchor for the men’s relay team.
The Wildcats were next scheduled to compete at home in the Oliver Jackson Twilight Invitational on April 30, but the meet has been cancelled. Instead, the team will travel to Lubbock May 3 to compete in the Texas Tech Red Raider Open.
Southland Conference outdoor season championships will be the following week, beginning May 9 at Central Arkansas University.
