Outdoor Bests (as of 05.04.11)
By DON GARRETT
Special Contributor
The ACU track and field team saw performances literally coast-to-coast this past weekend as Wildcats ran on the east coast (The Penn Relays in Philadelphia), the west coast (the Jordan Payton Invitational on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA) and right here in Texas (the Mean Green Invitationa at the University of North Texas).
The weekend belonged to one primary performance as senior
Amos Sang added to his legacy at ACU, winning the Section 2 10,000 meter run at Payton Jordan in a stunning time of 28:20.35, the second-best time in ACU history – a time second only to the 28:06.26 run by the most decorated distance runner in Wildcat history, Nicodemus Naimadu.
Sang's time moves him to the top of the Division II heap in the U.S., with a 20-second lead over the next closest runner. Sang, the national champion in both the 5000 and 10,000 at last year's D-II national meet, has an excellent chance to repeat that feat in 2011.
Other notable performances during the weekend included:
•
Chloe Susset running a personal record (PR) time of 10:39.09 in the steeplechase at the Payton Jordan, moving her to 7th on the national performance list in that event and virtually assuring her qualification for the national meet
•
Ramon Sparks finished 2nd at the Penn Relays in the triple jump with one of his better jumps of the year, a jump of 52-1.75
•
Romain Rybicki ran a PR in the 1500 with a timeof 3:53.61, just a few seconds off the national provisional qualifying time
•
Nick Jones won the shot put at the Mean Green meet with a toss of 60-3.75, his 2nd best throw of the season and only his 2nd time to ever throw over 60 feet
• The women's 4X100 relay had their best time of the season in winning the event at the meet in Denton, with a young quartet of 2 sophomores (
Cassie Brooks and
Sydney Smith) and 2 freshmen (Shelby Young and
Michelle Ratliff). Their time was only .05 off the national provisional qualifying time.
• Tara Riley had a new PR in the shot put, throwing 41-5.25 and moving into the top 8 of the Lone Star Conference
•
Sydney Smith was 4th in the women's 100 in Denton;
Paige Newby was 5th in the discus;
Jessica Sloss was 2nd and
Paige Newby 3rd in the hammer throw; Amelia Mitchell was 5th in the javelin;
Kevin Johnson was 3rd and
Michael Rasor 4th in the 110 hurdles; Timothy Jones was 4th in the LJ with a new PR of 22-1.5 and 5th in the TJ;
Nick Jones was 3rd in the discus; and
Tyler Fleet was 4th in the hammer throw
The Wildcats now prepare for the Lone Star Conference meet this weekend, hosted by Tarleton State. The strong Wildcat multis corps will start the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon on Friday, May 6, with the field events and track prelims starting on Saturday, May 7. The running finals will occur on Sunday evening, May 8.
