Live results
TURLOCK, Calif. – The ACU Wildcats enter this weekend's NCAA Division II outdoor track and field championship meet with the clear goal of winning the men's national championship.
After all, if the Wildcats can win a national indoor championship with only four athletes, who's to say they can't win an outdoor title with double that amount?
ACU – the nation's top-ranked team throughout the outdoor season, according to the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association – heads into the championship meet with a balanced squad consisting of five in the sprint / hurdle group, four in the jumps, four in the throws, two in the distance events and one relay.
Among ACU's top entries is senior
Desmond Jackson, who is ranked No. 1 in the nation in both the 100 meters and 200 meters. Senior
Amos Sang is ranked No. 1 in the 10,000 meters and No. 2 in the 5000 meters.
Junior
Nick Jones – who red-shirted last year after winning the national championship in the discus as a freshman in 2008 and as a sophomore in 2009 – has been dominant all season and is ranked No. 1 in the nation in the discus and No. 3 in the shot put.
The Wildcats also have the nation's top-ranked 4x100 relay team after posting a time of 39.80, one of five teams entered in this year's meet with sub-40-second times.
ACU figures to be pushed hard by Lincoln (Mo.), old nemesis and two-time defending champion St. Augustine's (N.C.) and Central Missouri.
On the women's side, the Wildcats have just four individual entries in the meet. Triple jumper Amanda Ouedraogo is ranked No. 1 in the nation in her event and represents ACU's best chance for an individual national championship.
The Wildcats will get started in the meet Thursday at 2:30 p.m. (Abilene time) with
Tyler Fleet in the men's hammer throw. The meet will continue through Saturday when a champion is crowned.
