ACU swept the Lone Star Conference track and field championships Saturday night at Memorial Stadium as the women regained control of the conference title that Angelo State has held since 2004. The men cruised home to its 13th straight conference championship, making up an almost 40-point deficit heading into the final day.
The Wildcats were totally dominant on Saturday as they combined to 18 of 21 running races contested on Saturday, failing to win only the women’s 3000 meters and the men’s 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles races. In the meet, the ACU women won 16 of 21 events (11 of 12 running events) and the men won 11 of 21 events (9 of 12 running events).
The ACU women shattered the conference record for team points (261 by ACU in 1998) by scoring 290 points on their way to blitzing the field, beating second-place Angelo State (167 points) by 123 points. The ACU men scored 206 points to easily beat second-place Angelo State, which finished with 162 points.
But it was the performance of the ACU women that put a big smile on the face of first-year head coach Don D. Hood. After winning the first 20 conference titles, the ACU women lost control of the team title two years ago to Angelo State, and the Rambelles controlled the team chase in 2004 and 2005.
However, the Wildcats appeared revived during the week, probably forcing Angelo State’s track and field team to put away its "The Purple Reign Is Over" T-shirts away for good.
"I’m most impressed with that the girls responded to the challenge we put in front of them," Hood said. "They wanted to come to this meet and make a statement that ACU women’s track is back. This is the first step in what we want to do, but it’s a big first step."
Two of the leaders for the Wildcats were freshmen in multi-event standout Jessica Withrow and sprinter Kim Prather. Withrow won the heptathlon on Tuesday and then won the high jump on Friday and was second in the long jump. On Saturday she finished third in the 100-meter hurdles and fourth in the 400-meter hurdles to give her 38 points.
Prather was a catalyst on Saturday with wins in the 100 meters and 200 meters and running on the Wildcats’ winning 4x100 relay team, giving her 20 points by herself, plus helping the team to another 10 points in the relay.
"We knew coming down here that we could win this championship," Withrow said, "but we knew we had to do well in qualifying and have a lot of numbers in the finals. That’s where Angelo State has won the last two championships: by getting a lot of depth into the finals. But we wanted to get a lot of people through to Saturday and make a statement. I don’t think Angelo State had a chance today."
Other standouts for the women were Shawna-Kaye Thompson (winner in the 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles), Angie Aguilar (winner of the pole vault), Trina Cox (winner in the 5000 meters and 10,000 meters), and Jessica Blair, who won the triple jump and was third in the triple jump in a pair of events in which she was competing in simultaneously.
Keva Wilkins defended her conference title in the 400 meters, as did Denise Morgan in the 800 meters, and Olha Kryv’yak – who won the 3000 steeplechase on Friday with a provisional qualifying mark of 11:02.25 – won the 1500 meters to give ACU five straight winners in the event.
"We had so many people this weekend who put it together when we needed it," Hood said. "Jessica has great toughness, and that just carries through to everybody else. Trina ran about nine miles to get 20 points, and then you’ve got Liga Klavina throwing with bad knees and scoring points for us (third in the javelin with a provisional qualifying mark for next month’s NCAA Division II outdoor championship meet.
"Jessica Hunt had a great weekend, and Jessica Blair was awesome," he said. "Shawna-Kaye couldn’t even run in this meet last year, but she was huge for us today. And Hayley Garner (second in the 1500 meters with a personal-best of 4:47.99) was just fantastic."
The men’s team was a business-as-usual mode throughout the meet as the Wildcats coasted to the victory.
Junior sprinter Marvin Bien-Aime defended his conference championships in the 100 meters and 200 meters, running a season-best 10.43 in the 100 meters and a season-best 20.87 in the 200 meters. David Chirchir was also a double-winner for the Wildcats as he won the 800 meters (1:55.67) and the 1500 meters (3:55.01).
Senior Cory Aguilar became the first Wildcat pole vaulter in school history to win four straight LSC titles as he cleared 16-2.75 to win the event. All-time great Billy Olson won the LSC title from 1978-80 and then again in 1982 after he sat out the 1981 season with a broken wrist.
Vladyslav Gorbenko defended his conference title in the triple jump as he posted a mark of 52-6.75 and breaking the old LSC meet record of 51-7.75 set in 1974 by former Angelo State jumper Josh Owuse and tied in 1987 by ACU’s Rick Collett.
ACU’s top distance runner, Nicodemus Naimadu, coasted to the 5000-meter title (15:10.94), and was a casual observer in the 1500 meters where he finished third in 3:55.86. Freshman Jordan Johnson won the 400 meters (46.68), and Serge Gasore won the 10,000 meters on Friday.
The Wildcats’ two relays both won, and the 4x400 relay team provided the last highlight of the night as it rallied from an early deficit to win the event championship. Bobby Tatum – a University of Texas transfer who came to ACU to play football – ran the second leg of the relay, and he got the baton some 30 meters behind the leader from Angelo State.
Tatum appeared to be shot out of a cannon the way he ran the first 200 meters of his leg, and he quickly put the Wildcats into second place, turning in a 46.9-second leg. Johnny Jacobs then ran a 46.1-second leg, and he moved the Wildcats into first place in the final 40 meters of the third leg. Senior Delt Cockrell posted a split of 46.9, and he held off Angelo State’s Justin Boyd over the final 100 meters to give the Wildcats their third straight conference title in the 4x400 relay.
"Our guys were so tired coming into this meet because we’ve worked them hard, and they’ve traveled so much lately," Hood said. "The thing I’m most thrilled about is that we came out of it healthy and with several good qualifying marks as well. This was a great weekend for us and sets up for the stretch run to the national championship meet."
