WACO -- The ACU Wildcats battled the elements all day Saturday at the Michael Johnson Classic to win one event and post eight top-five finishes on a rain-shortened day at the Hart-Patterson Track Complex.
Saturday's meet was suspended with four scheduled events remaining, including the 400 hurdles, 200 meters, 5000 meters, and 4x400-meter relay. The Wildcats will be back in action next (April 20-24) at the Penn Relays Carnival at historic Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
Redshirt sophomore
Tyler Fleet came away with the Wildcats' only victory on the day as he captured the championship in the hammer throw with a mark of 181 feet, 11 inches, a provisional qualifying mark for next month's NCAA Division II championship meet in Charlotte, N.C.
Fleet provisionally qualified last week at the Red Raider Open in Lubbock, but his throw Saturday in Waco was more than one foot better than his fifth-place throw in Lubbock. Fleet was the only Wildcat on either the men's or women's side to better an existing provisional or automatic qualifying mark, and no other Wildcat posted a qualifying mark as the meet was run off in less-than-ideal weather conditions.
The only other top-five finisher on the men's side was
Desmond Jackson, who was third in the 100 meters at 10.59.
On the women's side,
Linda Brivule was second in the javelin (145-8),
Jessica Sloss was fifth in the hammer throw (154-3),
Amanda Clemons was fifth in the long jump (18-6.50),
Paige Newby was third in the discus (137-3),
Wanda Hutson was fourth in the 100 meters (11.86) and
Kim Prather was second in the 400 meters (55.96).
The Wildcats, however, had much more success at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., where all three of their runners competing in one of the world's largest track and field meets qualified for the outdoor championships.
On the men's side,
Amos Sang -- who has the nation's top mark in the 10,000 meters with an automatic qualifying time of 29:15.58 -- posted an automatic qualifying mark in the 5000 meters late Friday night with his ninth-place time of 13:50.77.
On the women's side,
Chloe Susset was 21st in the 3000 meter steeplechase with a provisional qualifying time of 11:06.49, while
Anais Belledant was 32nd in the 1500 meter with a provisional qualifying time of 4:34.61.