Follow the meet
STEPHENVILLE – The ACU men's and women's track and field teams will begin their quests for Lone Star Conference championships Friday at Memorial Stadium on the campus of Tarleton State University.
Competition begins Friday in the heptathlon and decathlon, while selected field event finals, some running finals and running event prelims are set for Saturday. All other running and field event finals are set for Sunday afternon.
The ACU men's team has won 17 straight LSC championships, while the women's team will have to beat the defending LSC and NCAA Division II national champion Angelo State to reclaim the title the Rambelles won in 2009.
The men's championship race figures to be a strong battle between ACU and Angelo State. The Wildcats enter the meet ranked No. 1 in the nation, according to the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, while Angelo State is ranked No. 7.
The Wildcats will be led by the foursome that won the NCAA Division II indoor national championship by themselves in March: thrower
Nick Jones, jumper
Ramon Sparks, sprinter
Desmond Jackson and distance standout
Amos Sang.
Those four, however, will be supported by hurdler
Andrew McDowell, sprinter Paris Robertson, throwers Timothy Jones and
Tyler Fleet and decathlete
Parker Petty.
ACU has the LSC's top-ranked athlete in the 100 and 200 (Jackson), 1500, 5000 and 10,000 (Sang), 110 hurdles (McDowell), 4x100 relay, triple jump (Sparks), shot put and discus (Jones), and hammer (Fleet).
The ACU women are the conference's only nationally ranked team entering the conference meet, sitting at No. 18 in the latest rankings. The Wildcats have won 23 of the 27 conference championship meets with Angelo State having won the other four conference titles.
ACU is taking only 16 women to Stephenville, but only two of them are seniors. However, the Wildcats have quality in
Paige Newby,
Chloe Susset, Amanda Ouedraogo,
Cassie Brooks,
Jessica Sloss,
Anais Belledant and
Sydney Smith.
Newby, a Colorado City senior, is the defending LSC and national champion in the discus. Susset, a junior from France, is ranked No. 5 in the nation in the 3,000 steeplechase and has qualified for nationals in the event.
Ouedraogo, a sophomore from France, finished second in the triple jump at the indoor championships, and she's ranked No. 1 in the nation in the event outdoors. She'll also compete in the long jump at the LSC meet. Sloss is the defending LSC champion in the hammer, and she'll throw the shot put and discus too.
Belledant, a junior from France, is the defending LSC champion in the 5,000 and a runner-up last year in the 1,500.
The Wildcats have the conference's top-ranked athlete in the 800 meters (Susset), 1500 meters (Belledant), 5000 meters (Alyse Goldsmith), 3000 steeplechase (Susset), triple j ump (Ouedraogo), discus (Newby), hammer (Sloss) and heptathlon (Brooks).
