Saturday Results
SAN ANGELO – Sweeps in the triple jump and hammer throw provided four of the seven victories by ACU on Saturday on the second day of the Lone Star Conference track and field championships.
ACU sophomore
Amanda Clemons upset defending champion Aisha Adams of host Angelo State in the women's triple jump, and ACU junior
Ramon Sparks, two-time NCAA Division II national champion, repeated as champion in the men's triple jump.
In the hammer throw, ACU's
Tyler Fleet won his second LSC title (186-8), and the Wildcats'
Jessica Sloss was best in her event with 169-3 to 154-0 for teammate
Paige Newby in the runner-up spot.
Also winning for the Wildcats Friday were
Amos Sang in the men's 10,000 (30:26.53),
Landon Ehlers in the men's pole vault (16-3.25) and
Chloe Susset in the women's 3,000 steeplechase (11:15.02). ACU was 1-2-3 in the men's 10,000.
In the team standings after seven of 21 events, the ACU men hold an advantage over Angelo State going into Saturday's finals looking for their 17th straight league title. The heavily-favored and nationally-ranked Rambelles have 85 points to 59 for the Wildcat women, and the Wildcats enjoy a 78-70 cushion over the Rams after outscoring the hosts 26-1 in the final men's event (10,000).
Sunday's schedule calls for field events at noon and running events at 5:30 p.m. at LeGrand Sports Complex.
In the women's triple jump, Clemons opened with a foul then jumped 40-1.25 in the second round to take a lead she never relinquished. She improved to 40-10.25 in the third round. The best by Adams, the 2009 NCAA Division II field event athlete of the year, was 39-11.5.
Sparks dominated the men's triple jump with a best of 50-10 despite not taking only two of his six jumps. He owns national titles in the 2009 outdoor meet and 2010 indoor meet.
In the women's pole vault, the Wildcats failed to win the title for the first time since the event was added in 1999. ASU freshman Summer Sutherland vaulted 11-10, but Wildcat senior
Elizabeth Buyse failed to clear her opening height of 11-4.25 in the windy conditions.
In the men's vault, Ehlers had no misses until the bar reached 16-9.25, and he won on fewer misses because Angelo State's Jacob McDonald took three attempts at 16-3.25.
Three Wildcats turned in the best times in a total of four events in Saturday's qualifying rounds of the running events. For the men, Sang ran 1:54.95 to pace the 800, and defending champion
Desmond Jackson was fastest in the men's 100 in 10.55, and he also led the 200 in 21.01.
In the women's division,
Wanda Hutson was the fastest qualifier in the 100, but after officials first announced that she ran 10.99 seconds, which would have been the fastest time ever in NCAA Division II for women's 100, they said runners in each of the three heats ran only 90 meters.
She will be joined in the 100 final by teammates
Kim Prather,
Sydney Smith and
Joella Foster. The same four advanced in the 200, which was led by Angelo State's Celethia Byrd (23.96).
Prather, defending champion in the women's 400, won her heat with 56.67, the best time in the preliminaries, but she was later disqualified.
The multi-events concluded Saturday with
Jessica Withrow of ACU holding second in the heptathlon behind record-setting Chrystal Ruiz of Angelo State, and the Wildcats'
Parker Petty improving to third in the final decathlon standings after starting the day in seventh.
Ruiz set two more LSC heptathlon records in individual events (long jump and 800) to finish with 5,373 points, another LSC record. She missed the B standard for the U.S. championships next month in Des Moines, Iowa, by 27 points.
Withrow, who handed Ruiz her only loss in Saturday's javelin throw, scored a season best of 4,951 points, but missed the A standard for the NCAA Division II national meet by 49 points.
Petty jumped to second after the pole vault, the day's third event and eighth overall, when he cleared 14-6.75 for second. But he dropped to third after the final event (1,500) with 6,041 points. Eldon Grimslid, former linebacker for West Texas A&M, won with 6,775 points to give the Buffaloes only their second victory in an individual event in LSC history.
There were also two decathlon records Saturday (pole vault and 1,500).
There was no qualifying Saturday in the 1,500 and 5,000, the relays and the women's 400 hurdles for Sunday's finals.
