Wildcats add more qualifiers

Men's 4x400 relay team turns in automatic mark

LUBBOCK -- Abilene Christian added seven more provisional qualifiers and one automatic qualifying relay team for the NCAA Division II indoor championship meet over the weekend at the Wes Kittley Classic on the Texas Tech campus.

The Wildcats now have 21 provisionally qualified athletes on their men's and women's teams, and all four relay teams -- men's and women's 4x400 and distance medley relay teams -- have qualified.  The indoor championship meet will be March 11-12 in Boston, Mass.

The highlight of Saturday's meet for the ACU men was the 4x400 relay team, which ran an automatic qualifying time of 3:10.17 to finish second behind a Texas Tech team that ran a 3:08.74 and featured Abilene native and U.S. 800-meter champion Jonathan Johnson running the third lap.  ACU's time is the fourth-best indoor 4x400 relay time in school history.

ACU also added seven provisional qualifiers at Saturday's meet, and four athletes turned in better provisional marks than their marks from the first weekend of the season.

New qualifiers were Yevgen Pashchenko, who won the triple jump with a mark of 51-2.25.  The 2004 indoor and outdoor national champion in the triple jump, Pashchenko provisionally qualified last week in the long jump.

Lucky Hadebe won the men's 800-meter run with a provisional mark of 1:51.58.  Defending national champion Bernard Manirakiza ran his first race of the outdoor season, but finished third in the 800 meters (1:56.12), and did not post a qualifying time.

Reigning NCAA Division II individual cross country national champion Nicodemus Naimadu won the 3000 meters in a time of 8:18.09 with teammate Laurant Ngirakamaro finishing second in 8:40.43.

Also on the men's side, Cory Aguilar bettered his provisional mark in the pole vault, finishing second in the event with a mark of 16-7.25. And in the 400 meters, Marvin Essor bettered his provisional mark with a winning time of 48.06.

The ACU women had a strong day with five provisional qualifiers and two better provisional marks.

In the pole vault, Val Gorter and Katie Eckley finished tied for fifth with provisional marks of 11-6.25.  In the 55-meter hurdles, Shawna-Kaye Thompson provisionally qualified with a time of 8.11 seconds in the prelims.  She went on to win the event with a time of 8.12 in the finals.

In the 400 meters, Brooklyn Hunt -- who provisionally qualified last week in the 200 meters -- provisionally qualified Saturday with a fourth-place time of 56.67.  And in the 200 meters, Keva Wilkins finished seventh, but provisionally qualified with a time of 25.39. Jessica Hunt finished fifth with a time of 25.19, bettering her provisional mark from last weekend.

The 4x400 relay team won the race with a time of 3:49.62, barely edging Texas Tech, which ran a 3:50.23.  ACU's time is a better provisional mark than the one it posted last weekend at Texas Tech.

ACU will be back in action Saturday in Lubbock at the Wes Kittley Invitational.