AUSTIN -- Abilene Christian University picked up four more top 10 finishes Saturday at the 83rd annual Texas Relays in Austin, but defending javelin throw champion
Linda Brivule was denied a repeat title at Mike Meyer Stadium.
The Wildcat women's 4x100-meter relay team, which failed to qualify for the university women's final Saturday, competed in the women's invitational relay race Saturday and finished third and improved to 46.05 behind the winning 42.82 by the Big 12 All-Stars. The Wildcats' time is an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA Division II outdoor championship meet.
Sydney Smith,
Wanda Hutson,
Joella Foster and
Kim Prather competed for ACU, the same quartet that posted a time of 46.72 on Friday.
Hutson came back later in the afternoon and finished eighth in the women's university 100 in 11.61 with a legal 2.0 meters-per-second wind. Gabby Mayo of Texas A&M raced first in 11.28. Hutson ran 11.60 in Friday's qualifying with a 3.5 meters-per-second wind.
Ramon Sparks, a two-time NCAA Division II champion in the triple jump, turned in the best mark of his Wildcat career with an automatic qualifying mark of 52 feet, 6.5 inches (wind 1.4) under legal wind conditions. He placed fourth in Austin behind the winning 54-3.25 of Zuheir Sharif of Texas A&M.
After winning here last year and going undefeated in collegiate competition in 2009, Brivule dipped to seventh Saturday. She opened with 166 feet, 2 inches (50.64 meters) for seventh after the first round, but failed to improve in her final five attempts. Only one other throw was more than 50 meters (50.06 for 164-3) by the former Lone Star Conference and NCAA Division II champion. It was Brivule's first loss to a collegiate performer since 2008.
The women's javelin winner was Liz Gleadle in 189-9 (57.84). She is a senior at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, a 40,000-student university that has been a candidate for membership in NCAA Division II. Brivule won the Texas Relays title last year in 184-6. Saturday's field of 16 included the top five from the 2009 Texas Relays and five of the top 10 from the 2009 NCAA Division I national meet.
Abilene Christian's only other entry Saturday, distance runner
Anais Belledant, ran 4:43.83 to place 11th among 15 entries in the women's university 1,500 meters. Betzy Jimenez of Texas was the winner in 4:23.50.
