The ‘Cats finished the weekend with 18 top-five finishes and 19 personal bests at the John Jacobs Invitational in Oklahoma.
The women’s team had another great weekend with multiple top performances. Sophomore distance runner Alexandria Hackett won the 3000-meter race for the second meet in a row, with a personal best time of 9:46.84. Following Hackett was teammate sophomore distance runner Diana Garcia Muñoz, who finished third with a time of 9:54.50, another personal best for the Wildcats.
Sophomore distance runner Isabella Gutierrez took second in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:37.77. Sophomore pole vaulter Kenzie Walker had an impressive finish at third place with a vault of 3.75 meters. Freshman thrower Kayla Melgar had a throw of 50.39 meters in women’s discus, which left her with a personal best and fifth-place all-time in the ACU record books.
“It was pretty exciting,” said Melgar. “I wasn’t expecting that big of a PR, but I was having a great day and I was feeling good in my warmups. Coach Cook was saying all the right things to get me to throw my best.”
Melgar also placed 11th in women’s shot put with a throw of 10.89 meters.
The men’s team had excellent finishes from junior sprinter Johnathan Farquharson, freshman sprinter Rosen Daniel, senior sprinter Osei Alleyne-Forte and junior sprinter Devan Brown. Farquharson came in third in the men’s 100-meter dash and men’s 200-meter dash with a personal record time of 20.68.
Daniel also gained a personal best in the 200-meter with a fourth place finish of 12.01. He also managed a second-place victory in the men’s 400-meter dash. Brown came out of the meet behind Daniel with a sixth-place finish in the men’s 200-meter with a personal best of 21.18.
Allyene-Forte had a fifth-place finish behind Daniel in the 400-meter dash with a personal best of 47.49.
Melgar said teammates and coaches have been huge encouragers and helped each other throughout the season.
“It wasn’t until after the meet that my coach told me about the dent I made in ACU history and I couldn’t believe it,” said Melgar. “I am so thankful for my support system and a great team and coach I can always rely on.”
The team will be back in action this weekend in Iowa for the second consecutive year to attend the two-day Drake Relays.
