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LSC Championship Results
STEPHENVILLE -- The ACU men's and women's track and field teams will be back in action this weekend at the Lone Star Conference championship meet with both teams looking to claim league titles.
The ACU men will be trying to win their 13th straight LSC team championship and 22nd overall since 1978, while the ACU women will be trying to re-capture the LSC title that Angelo State has won in each of the last two years. ACU won the first 20 LSC women's team titles before the Rambelles won the title two years in Kingsville and last year in San Angelo.
Unlike those two years, however, ACU will actually take a lead into Friday's first full day of competition. Earlier this week, Jessica Withrow and Jessica Blair finished first and third, respectively, in the LSC heptathlon competition to give ACU 16 points and a four-point lead over Angelo State going into the weekend's track and field events. ACU trailed Angelo State by 21 and 22 points, respectively, in each of the two previous years after the heptathlon competition.
The Wildcats, though, have athletes that have posted the LSC's best time or mark in 15 of the 20 events, including in every running event. Last year, ACU won every running event except the two hurdles events and the 10,000 meters. Angelo State, however, had outscored ACU 22-1 in the heptathlon and then won the 10,000 meters, high jump, long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus and javelin to help its cause in winning the title, 243-227, over ACU.
ACU senior Trina Cox enters the weekend with the LSC's best mark in the 1500 meters, 5000 meters and 3000 Steeplechase, while freshman Kim Prather has the best time in both the 100 meters and 200 meters. Shawna-Kaye Thompson -- who carried the top time in the league in the 100-meter hurdles into last year's meet, but didn't compete because of injury -- has the top time in the LSC in both the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles this year, and she appears to be healthy this year.
The Wildcats have the top two relays in the LSC with the 4x400 relay team leading the next-best time (by Angelo State) by more than seven seconds. Withrow has the LSC's best marks in both the high jump and
long jump, and junior Angie Aguilar -- the reigning NCAA Division II indoor champion in the pole vault -- has the league's best mark in that event entering the weekend.
On the men's side, ACU's Jon-Daniel Todd finished seventh in the decathlon and failed to score for the Wildcats, who will trail chief rival Angelo State, 19-0, in the points standings going into the weekend.
ACU, however, has to be considered the favorite to win the title, mainly because it has athletes with the LSC's best mark in 12 of 20 events, including every running event except the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles. Marvin Bien-Aime, who won the 100 and 200 meters last year, carries the league's top time in each event into this year's meet.
Nicodemus Naimadu, who won the 5000 meters and the 3000 Steeplechase last year, has the top mark in the 1500 meters, 5000 meters and 3000 Steeplechase entering the weekend. The Wildcats have the league's two best relays, including a four-second edge over ASU in the 4x400 relay.
Last year ACU won every running event, except the two hurdles events, on its way to beating Angelo State, 217-158, for the league title. Angelo State led the Wildcats, 16-1, after the decathlon.
Friday's events will get started at 3 p.m. with field-event finals at Memorial Stadium on the Tarleton State campus. The four finals on Friday will be the two steeplechase races (starting at 5 p.m.) and the two 10,000-meter races (starting at approximately 7 p.m.).
Saturday's events start at noon with field-event finals, and the running finals start at 5 p.m. with the women's 5000 meters. The final event of the meet -- the 4x400 relays -- are scheduled to start at approximately 8:15 p.m. Saturday.
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