(photo via ACU Sports)
The ACU track and field team picked up where the women’s distance program left off last fall, competing against some of the nation’s best at the Texas A&M 11-Team Invitational this weekend.
Junior Allie Hackett set the tone for the two-day meet on Friday night when she became the first Wildcat to win an individual event at the stadium. Hackett set a meet record in the 5,000 meter run with a time of 16:31, allowing her name to be etched in ACU history as the third fastest mark all-time indoors for the university.
The second place finisher from Stephen F. Austin, Mary Luster, was two minutes behind Hackett. Sophomore Gabby Thompson was fourth in the event, running a time of 19:17.
Hackett would post another win on Saturday in the 3,000 meter run with a personal best of 9:37. Second place finisher from Baylor, Peyton Thomas, made Hackett work a little harder for it though, finishing two second behind her.
The Wildcats would go to post 14 top-10 finishes, including six top-five finishes.
Athletes in a variety of events started strong for ACU. Senior sprinter from St. Lucia, Rosen Daniel, finished third in the 400 meters with a time of 47.58. Junior Diana Garcia-Munoz finished fourth in the women’s mile with a new personal record of 4:56.
Elsewhere in the stadium, field athletes had a solid start to the season with senior Jelani Rainey leading the way with a fifth-place finish in the men’s weight throw. Rainey was short by a only a few inches of his PR in the event with a length of 56-9.5 (17.31m). Sophomore Morgan Knight recorded a top-10 finish for the Wildcats placing ninth in the weight throw.
Sophomores Lonnie Smith and Kai Schmidt also finished in the top-ten in their events with eighth place finishes in the women’s weight throw and men’s shot put.
At the triple jump area, senior Jeremy Tatham finished strong with a sixth place finish and also an indoor PR with a length of 47-.25 (14.33). Junior pole vaulter, Kenzie Walker, jumped to a 10th place finish with her vault of 12-8 (3.86 m).
The final event of the meet, the 4×400 meter relay was a great way for the women’s team to finish a season opener. Chartia Hurt, Kimone Green, Petrene Plummer and Jessica James would come back from a fourth place spot to tie for first in their heat. The women would ultimately finish sixth overall with a time of 3:47.46.
The men’s 4×4 was led by Daniel, Corniel Lionel, Devan Brown and finished by Deandre Mcbride. The final time for the men was 3:16.09.
“It was a decent start, and we see the things that we need to fix,” assistant head coach Ray Walker said, “We have some work to do before conference in a few weeks, but we will be ready.”
The Wildcats return to action at the end of this month, Jan. 29-30, when they travel to east Texas to compete in the Houston Invitational.
