South-Central Texas will be the area where the Wildcat track and field teams will be looking to set new records and take home gold as they split up this weekend. Some of the team will head to Austin to compete in the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays as others travel to San Marcos for the Bobcat invitational.
The Texas Relays is one of the nation’s most prestigious meets, with the best college track and field athletes invited to compete. The Relays also host the best high school teams from the state as well as some Olympic hopefuls. ACU will take a total of 15 athletes to Austin.
The Wildcats are coming off of a strong showing at Texas Tech last weekend, where they claimed eight gold medals in an array of events. The teams also recorded nine other top-three performances.
Allie Hackett led a sweep of the top three spots in the 5k with her time of 16:31. Her twin sister, Michaela, was next and rounding out the top three was freshman Aubrey Till. Hackett will be running the 5k at Texas Relays along with teammate, Carnley Graham. Fellow distance runner, Diana Garcia-Munoz will compete in the 1500 meter run and Marina Guerreo-Puigdevall will run in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
The women’s powerhouse distance team will pair up with the top Wildcats sprinters for the Women’s distance medley. The Wildcats finished third at the Southland Conference Indoor Championships in the DMR back in February.
On the men’s side, Luke Woods will be competing in the invite-only decathlon against athletes from Purdue, Florida State and Auburn. The grueling 10-event competition will span two days.
Kai Schmidt will also represent the Wildcats in Austin as he competes in the men’s discus throw. Also competing in field events will be men’s pole-vaulter, Jaden Dement. Jeremy Tatham will be in attendance at the Relays, running in the competitive men’s 110 hurdles. Other Wildcats will also be running in the multitude of events that span the four-day meet.
For the athletes not running in Austin, they will compete just 30 miles south of the Texas Relays on the Texas State campus for the Bobcat Invitational. The decathlon starts Thursday at 8:30. Field and running events will begin Friday at 1 and 5 p.m. respectively and will conclude Saturday afternoon.
The 89th annual Texas Relays will begin at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday with the heptathlon. The first Wildcat to compete with be Luke Woods at 11 a.m. in the decathlon. All running events will conclude Saturday afternoon. A total of 32 states and 20 countries will be present this weekend in Austin.
