The Wildcats finished the Winter Texas Tech Open with 13 personal records and 12 top-five finishes.
The track and field team dedicated this weekend’s meet to its previous running coach, Drew Graham. Befitting, the distance runners took 12 of the 13 personal bests.
“This meet was dedicated to coach Drew Graham,” said Ray Walker, assistant running coach. “They had him in the back of their mind when they were competing.”
Walker said he was glad the team was able to have fun at this meet and got some personal bests while at it.
Diana Garcia Muñoz, distance runner from Phoenix, had the top finish of the women’s 800-meter race where she broke her personal record with a time of 2:14.27.
Muñoz also recorded a 10th- place ranking in the ACU record books.
“We have to have a certain number of meets in order to have our performance at conference count,” Muñoz said. “So this meet was for fun, and it let us do unusual events that we usually don’t do. A lot of us did really well.”
Distance runners Jessica James, Isabella Gutierrez, Mariana Guerrero, Alexandria Hackett and Michaela Hackett all recorded personal bests this weekend in the women’s 800-meter run.
Muñoz, James, freshman from Couva, Trinidad and Tobago, and Gutierrez, freshman from Abilene, ranked in the top five for the run they ran in honor of Graham.
“Coach Barnier went to see coach Graham last week,” Muñoz said. “And he thought it would be cool to dedicate our performances to him.”
Lexus Williams, senior hurdler from Mesquite, took the additional broken record when she got a personal best of 8.07 and scored as the sixth fastest time in ACU history.
Reid Rivers, sophomore distance runner from Juneau, Alaska, also placed second in his category. In the men’s 1000-meter run, Rivers scored a time of 2:32.09 as a personal best for his career.
Muñoz said she was surprised at the team’s results.
“It feels awesome,” she said. “I know I felt great because I got a PR at the meet, but I didn’t even know that many people did so well.”
This meet concludes the indoor track and field season for the Wildcats. The ‘Cats will have a month off before they compete in another meet.
The first competition of the outdoor season will take place March 20 at the TCU Invitational.
Walker said he is excited to see what their players are capable of accomplishing in this next season.
“This indoor season was only the beginning to a much better outdoor season,” he said.
