The Wildcats won eight events and recorded nine other top-three performances in just their second meet of the outdoor season in the Texas Tech Open.
St. Lucian sprinter, Rosen Daniel, was the catalyst for the Wildcats when he beat all other competition to the line in the 400-meter run with a time of 46.61 seconds. Daniel’s time is third in the nation so far this season not including other results from meets being run this weekend.
“This proved to me that a healthy mentality can over physical setbacks,” Daniel said. Daniel has been dealing with a nagging injury since indoor conference.
Kimone Green once again proved why she was is the fastest in the Southland when it comes to the 400 hurdles. She won with a time of 59.78 seconds. The St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, native also moved into fourth all-time fastest in ACU history.
Green also moved to 15th in the nation with Thursday’s performance.
The women’s distance team ran like the Southland Cross Country champions that they are and had a complete sweep of the top three spots in the 5k. Allie Hackett led the way for the Wildcats as she crossed the line at 16:31, setting a new meet and facility record as well as beating ACU’s school record set by Adeh Mwamba back in 2004.
Michaela Hackett was the next across the line in 17:28, followed by freshman Aubrey Till at 17:46. Carnley Graham and Gabby Thompson were fifth and seventh, respectively, with marks of 18:10.66 and 19:02.29.
ACU’s final gold medal came from the women’s 4x400m relay, where Green, Jessica James, Petrene Plummer and Chartia Hurt would run for a final time of 3:46.
Over in the field events, Jeremy Tatham obliterated his old personal best in the triple jump with a leap of 49-03.00 (15.01m). Tatham also set a new PR in the 110-meter hurdles earlier in the day, finishing third with a time of 14.50.
Kayla Melgar finished second in the women’s discuss with a throw of 145-08 (44.40m). Melger was followed by teammate, Lonnie Smith who claimed third with a throw of 143-04 (43.68). Melger also captured the third place spot in the women’s shot put. Those throws put the pair of sophomores third and seventh for the women’s discus in the Southland.
Back on the track, Diana Garcia-Munoz finished third in the 1,500 with a time of 4:40 while Jessica James took silver in the 800 with a final time of 2:11.
The ‘Cats will split their team next week with half traveling to the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin and the other half traveling to San Marcos for the Bobcat Invitational.
