The Wildcats finished the weekend in Lubbock with 15 top-five finishes and one top finish for the women’s team.
Sophomore distance runner Isabella Gutierrez took first place out of 21 competitors in the 1500-meter race with a personal best time of 4:40.91. Gutierrez finished over a second faster than second place victor, Amber Saiz.
Sophomore distance runner Alexandria Hackett placed third in the race with a personal best time of 4:43.29.
Sophomore multi-event competitor Ramesheon Marine was a Wildcat contestant for the women’s 200-meter dash, where she placed 32nd overall with a time of 26.27.
“I enjoyed the meet and being able to compete against teams from all over,” said Marine. “It was a great meet and experience.”
Junior distance runner Marina Guerrero placed second in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 11:45.86, four seconds ahead of teammate Gabby Thompson.
The men’s team had a three, four, five and sixth place finishes by the newcomers in the men’s 5000-meter run with third place victor freshman Ryan Woelful with a time of 16:52, less than a second ahead of freshman Joshua Mills in fourth.
Freshman distance runner Lane Hoskinson placed fifth while freshman John Baker came behind him in sixth with a time of 18:11.36. Sophomore vaulter Kenzie Walker had another excellent performance in Lubbock where she placed third with a height of 3.38 meters.
Other field event Wildcat stand outs were throwers – freshman Kai Schmidt and junior Jelani Rainey. Schmidt placed second in men’s shot put with a throw of 14.64 meters while Rainey placed second in men’s hammer with a throw of 54.67 meters.
Team members like Marine believe that the sky is the limit and expect improvements from themselves and their team with each upcoming meet.
“This was a perfect meet to learn from individually and hopefully as a team we continue to run great times,” said Meshe.
The Wildcats will be back in action at the new home track this weekend for the Wes Kittley Invitational.
This will be the first time for the new Elmer Gray stadium to see a meet and be available for the public to watch. The ceremony for the opening of the new stadium will be at 11:45 a.m. Friday.
