Jackson enjoys outstanding day

 

In the crazy world of collegiate track and field, the Wildcats saw team members head to four different locations in four different states - Lincoln, NE; Norman, OK; Bozeman, MT, and Lubbock - looking for the right combination of competitive fields in an ongoing effort to qualify more athletes for the national meet. The Wildcats had one stellar performance and several improvements that might help those athletes make the trip to Albuquerque, NM, for the national indoor championship.

 

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* This weekend saw one of the most outstanding performances by an ACU athlete in the long, storied history of Wildcat Track and Field as Desmond Jackson, the senior from Midland Lee, ran personal record (PR) times in winning both the 60 and the 200 at the Nebraska Tune-Up Meet in Lincoln in winning both events against numerous NCAA Division I athletes. Not only was Jackson's 6.73 in the 60 and his 21.26 in the 200 automatic qualifying times for the national meet, those times also rank him #2 in Division II in the 60 and #1 in the division in the 200. Jackson has been battling a slight injury and this was his first time back on the track in 4 weeks and he looks primed for a huge performance at the national meet.

 

* In Norman, Okla., ACU's throwers also had 2 outstanding performances, as Tyler Fleet, the junior from Tyler Lee, set a new PR in finishing 2nd in the weight throw with a throw of 60-5.75, his first time to ever exceed 60 feet, moving him into the top 20 in the nation. Nick Jones continued his outstanding season as the junior from Amarillo Tascosa won the shot put with a heave of 58-3.75, his second best throw of the year.

 

* Other PR performances came from William Pike, who ran the mile in 4:29.07 and the 3K in 8:54.80; Kevin Johnson, running the 200 in 22.24 (however, he was unable to improve on his previous season best in the 60 hurdles and he sits "on the bubble" to qualify for nationals in that event); Timothy Jones, who moved closer to a provisional qualifying jump for nationals with a triple jump of 45-11.75 and freshman Erik Forrister, who finished with PR's in both the mile (4:34.99) and the 3K (9:08.71).

 

* In addition, all four of the ACU male multi-event athletes - Parker Petty, Caleb Gregory, Matthew Stark and Levi Gates - were able to compete in their first indoor heptathlon of the season after being unable to travel to Wichita State earlier in the season due to the winter weather that closed down Abilene for 4 days. All four were on track to have strong competitions in Lubbock when each effort was scuttled by "no-heights" in jumping events - Petty, Stark and Gates no-heighting in the pole vault and Gregory in the high jump. This strong corps of decathletes should prove extremely valuable once the outdoor season rolls around, particularly at the conference meet in May.

 

 

* In Lincoln, two key performances may prove to be just enough to get these ACU athletes into the national meet, as Karla Hope, the junior transfer, ran an indoor PR in the 400 with a 56.76 and Anais Belledant, the senior distance runner, ran a 4:57.80 in the mile for a new PR for her as well. Both times were big improvements over their previous best times of the season and moved them into the top 16 in the nation in their respective events.  

 

* In Norman, senior Jessica Sloss, the senior from Amarillo High, exactly matched her best throw of the season in the weight throw of 55-5.5. That should keep her right on the cusp of the top-20 nationally. Freshman Tara Riley, from Quanah, also had a PR throw in the shot put of 41-2.25, her first time to throw over 40 feet since coming to ACU, as she creeps closer to a provisional qualifying throw in that event.

 

* Other PR performances in Lincoln included Amanda Ouedraogo in the long jump, as well as distance runners Alyse Goldsmith getting PR's in both the mile (5:12.73) and the 3,000 (10:22.11) and Chloe Susset attaining a PR in the 3,000 with a time of 10:23.12.

 

* The award for traveling the furthest for competition goes to multi-event competitors Michelle Ratliff (the redshirt freshman from Amarillo San Jacinto Christian) and Kelti Rippenhagen (the true freshman from Austin Anderson) who travelled to Bozeman, Montana to compete in the Bobcat Open at Montana State in the indoor pentathlon. It was the first complete pentathlon for both competitors with Ratliff scoring 2,995 points and Rippenhagen scoring 2,836. Both scores fell short of the provisional qualifying national marks, but were outstanding for their first collegiate effort.

 

The ACU team will know in the next 10 days which of the Wildcats will qualify for the national meet in Albuquerque, N.M., on March 11-12.