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ABILENE -- The ACU men's and women's track and field teams dominated the Oliver Jackson Open in front of a partisan Elmer Gray Stadium crowd on Saturday, posting a solid number of provisional qualifiers and one automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division II outdoor championship meet.
ACU athletes won 17 events, met or bettered 24 provisional marks and saw Yevgen Paschenko post an automatic qualifying mark in the men's triple jump. Pashchenko jumped 52-2.75 to finish second in the event, but the mark is an automatic qualifying mark.
In the men's 5000 meters, both Phillip Birgen (second in 14:40.24) and Serge Gasore (third in 14:41.48) provisionally qualified for the outdoor meet, while Elton Garus-Oab (third in 47.08) and Delt Cockrell (fourth in 47.18) provisionally qualified in the 400 meters.
Cory Aguilar won the men's pole vault with a provisional qualifying mark of 16-8.00, while sprinter Bobby Tatum -- who transferred to ACU from Texas to play football -- provisionally qualified in the 100 meters with a time 10.53.
One of the biggest stories of the day on the men's side was former Texas Tech all-America thrower Jason Young, who set a new stadium record in the discus. He posted a mark of 222-8.00 to break a 24-year-old stadium record and post the best mark in the world this year, according to the IAAF.
On the women's side, Olha Kryv'yak won the 3000 meters with a provisional qualifying time of 10:04.48, and she also won the 1500 meters in 4:43.02, although she had already posted a provisional time last year.
Jessica Hunt posted a provisional mark in the 100 meters (second in 11.68), and Azraa Rounds (first in 55.08) and Brooklyn Hunt (second in 56.45) posted provisional times in the 400 meters. Trina Cox won the 3000 steeplechase with a provisional time of 1045.32, the best mark in NCAA Division II track and field by more than 10 seconds.
Shawna-Kaye Thompson (first in 1:02.23) and freshman Jessica Withrow (second in 1:03.31) each posted provisional marks in the 400 hurdles. Withrow, who two weeks ago in San Angelo provisionally qualified in
both the high jump and the heptathlon, also provisionally qualified in the long jump with a mark of 19-0.00. Jessica Blair provisionally qualified in the triple jump, finishing third in the event with a mark of 38-4.75.
The Wildcats will return to action this weekend (Thursday-Saturday) at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin.
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