ACU men win 16th straight LSC title; women 2nd to ASU
5/10/2009 2:15:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Track & Field
KINGSVILLE ? Double winners Nick Jones, Daniel Maina and Ramon Sparks paced the Abilene Christian University Wildcats to their 16th consecutive Lone Star Conference men's track and field championship here Saturday at Javelina Stadium.
Coach Don D. Hood's team won 15 of the 21 events to again dominate the competition, scoring 238 points to 138 for runner-up Angelo State.
In the women's championships, Angelo State was even more dominating, erasing ACU's LSC record of 290 team points with a convincing 331-175 victory over the Wildcats. It was here in 2004 where the Rambelles won their first LSC women's title to break Abilene Christian's streak of 20 straight victories.
For the ACU men, Jones threw 183-6 to take the discus to add to his shot put title Friday. And Sparks was the triple jump winner in 50-2 to lead a 1-2-3 Wildcat sweep after he took the long jump Friday. After winning the steeplechase Friday, Maina came back to take the 1,500 Saturday in 3:55.96 in the windy, warm weather conditions on the campus of Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Also winning Saturday for the ACU men were Desmond Jackson of Midland in the 100 (10.52), Jordan Johnson in the 200 (21.15), and Andrew McDowell in the 110 hurdles (14.00). Stephen Toler of Cisco was a repeat winner in the pole vault with a clearance at 16-10.75, and decathlete Camille Vandendriessche threw the javelin 195-7 to take the top spot.
The Wildcats swept the 400 relays with 40.85 for the men anchored by Johnson and 46.78 for the women anchored by Kim Prather. Johnson ran down ASU on the final lap of the 1,600 relay with 46.1 to give the ACU men's team a sweep of the relays after Harold Jackson (49.0), Desmond Jackson (47.0) and Regi McCabe-Gossett (50.6) ran the first three laps.
The Wildcat men won Saturday's first five events to remove any doubt about which team was taking the trophy.
“We had a really good meet,” Hood said of his men's team. “It went pretty much as scripted with a few surprises. It was a great team effort, and it could have been better but we held out Raymond (Radway, 2008 NCAA Division II champion in the 400). And we came out healthy.”
Radway, among the favorites here in the 200 and 400, did not compete Saturday after ending Friday's qualifying rounds with a tight hamstring.
The Wildcat women won eight events, including Linda Brivule in the javelin (161-0), Wanda Hutson in the 100 (11.63), Prather in the 400 (55.71) and Winrose Karunde in the 5,000 (18:25.21) on Saturday. Karunde was the only double winner for the Wildcat women.
Brivule, the only NCAA Division II all-time leader in this weekend's LSC meet, posted the three longest throws of the competition after starting with a foul in the strong winds. “The wind was a big distraction,” said the former IAAF world junior champion from Riga, Latvia.
“I know where I am right now,” she said. “I know my weak parts. I will work on that with my coach. This meet for me was a team meet. I'm happy I gave some point for my team. And for me, this is a practice meet for nationals.
“My dream for national is to improve my result,” she added. “I need to be patient and be smart. I want to be happy and throw the javelin.”
Brivule won the Texas Relays title last month with her 2009 best of 184-6, which is the national leader for Latvia. She is No. 3 on the 2009 U.S. collegiate list and No. 32 on the 2009 world performer list. She must improve to 193-7 to reach the B-qualifying standard for the IAAF world championships this summer. Her personal best is 195-10 from 2007.
She was LSC and NCAA Division II champion last year in her first year with the Wildcats.
“I think Angelo State has the best women's team in the nation,” Hood added. “We competed well. I was not disappointed with our effort, but that's the best team they've ever had. Any other year we would have been right with them. We've got some young kids who need to step up and learn to compete. And I think they will.”
The ASU women won 12 of the 21 events with ACU taking eight.
2009 LSC Champions from ACU
MEN
Decathlon ? Andy Henson
Pole Vault ? Stephen Toler
Long Jump ? Ramon Sparks
Triple Jump ? Ramon Sparks
Shot Put ? Nick Jones
Discus Throw ? Nick Jones
Javelin Throw ? Camille Vandendriessche
100 ? Desmond Jackson
200 ? Jordan Johnson
1,500 ? Daniel Maina
10,000 ? Cleophas Tanui
110 Hurdles ? Andrew McDowell
3,000 Steeplechase ? Daniel Maina
400 Relay ? Andrew McDowell, Desmond Jackson, Idiato Jeremiah, Jordan Johnson
1,600 Relay ? Harold Jackson, Desmond Jackson, Regi McCabe-Gossett, Jordan Johnson
WOMEN
Pole Vault ? Callie Young
Javelin Throw ? Linda Brivule
100 ? Wanda Hutson
400 ? Kim Prather
5,000 ? Winrose Karunde
10,000 ? Winrose Karunde
3,000 Steeplechase ? Loice Cheboi
400 Relay ? Wanda Hutson, Azraa Rounds, Joella Foster, Kim Prather
Saturday's Results
MEN
Points ? 1. Abilene Christian, 238; 2. Angelo State, 138; 3. Tarleton State, 126; 4. A&M-Kingsville, 60; 5. A&M-Commerce, 49; 6. Eastern New Mexico, 24, 7. West Texas A&M, 15.
Javelin Throw ? 1. Camille Vandendriessche, ACU, 195-7; 2. Ted Dugie, Kingsville, 192-8; 3. Raymond Orlando, Angelo, 180-3.
Pole Vault ? 1. Stephen Toler, ACU, 16-10.75; 2. Aaron Cantrell, ACU, 16-6.75; 3. Cory Altenberg, ACU, 16-0.75; 4. (tie) Landon Ehlers, ACU, 15-7.
Discus Throw ? 1. Nick Jones, ACU, 183-6; 2. Abel Garcia, Kingsville, 167-1; 3. Hayden Eubanks, Tarleton, 164-7.
Triple Jump ? 1. Ramon Sparks, ACU, 50-2; 2. Idiato Jeremiah, ACU, 50-0.75; 3. Gerald Chenyi, ACU, 48-9.5.
100 ? 1. Desmond Jackson, ACU, 10.52; 2. Jamal Mays, Tarleton, 10.55; 3. Idiato Jeremiah, ACU, 10.63; 7. Oswald Ingraham, ACU, 10.97 (wind 2.8).
200 ? 1. Jordan Johnson, ACU, 21.15; 2. James Howell, Angelo, 21.55; 3. Jamal Mays, Tarleton 21.74 (wind 4.4).
400 ? 1. James Howell, Angelo, 48.18; 2. Jordan Johnson, ACU, 49.29; 3. Jeremy Thompson, Eastern New Mexico, 49.37.
800 ? 1. Sam Gallander, Angelo, 1:58.36; 2. Chris Hearell, Tarleton, 1:58.57; 3. Brandon Womack, Commerce, 1:58.65; 8. Regi McCabe-Gossett, ACU, 2:02.54.
1,500 ? 1. Daniel Maina, ACU, 3:55.96; 2. Jared McNeil, Tarleton, 3:56.24; 3. Amos Sang, ACU, 3:59.14.
5,000 ? 1. Jared McNeil, Tarleton, 15:15.24; 2. Cody Hughes, Commerce, 15:24.74; 3. Kolin Styles, Tarleton, 15:33.19.
110 Hurdles ? 1. Andrew McDowell, ACU, 14.00; 2. Garrett Thomas, Tarleton, 14.31; 3. Ryan McWilliams, Angelo, 14.39; 5. Camille Vandendriessche, ACU, 15.18 (wind 2.4).
400 Hurdles ? 1. Ryan McWilliams, Angelo, 54.04; 2. Jeremy Jones, Angelo, 54.06; 3. Trenton Dalton, Angelo, 54.80; 6. Harold Jackson, ACU, 55.45.
400 Relay ? 1. Abilene Christian (Andrew McDowell, Desmond Jackson, Idiato Jeremiah, Jordan Johnson), 40.85; 2. Angelo State, 41.29; 3. Tarleton State, 41.92.
1,600 Relay ? 1. Abilene Christian (Harold Jackson, Desmond Jackson, Regi McCabe-Gossett, Jordan Johnson), 3:12.77; 2. Angelo State, 3:13.33; 3. Commerce, 3:17.20.
WOMEN
Points ? 1. Angelo State, 331; 2. Abilene Christian, 175; 3. Tarleton State, 84; 4. A&M-Commerce, 23; 5. A&M-Kingsville, 19; 6. Eastern New Mexico, 13.
Javelin Throw ? 1. Linda Brivule, ACU, 161-0; 2. Adree Lakey, Angelo, 145-5; 3. Culley Dawson, Angelo, 144-10; 5. Paige Newby, ACU, 119-5; 10. Angie Winegart, ACU, 87-1.
Triple Jump ? 1. Aisha Adams, Angelo, 40-5.5w; 2. Destinee Nixon, ACU, 38-5.5w; 3. Cathryn Rittenberry, Angelo, 37-7.75w; 6. Amanda Clemons, ACU, 36-0.75w; 7. Nadira Johnson, ACU, 35-4.
Discus Throw ? 1. Culley Dawson, Angelo, 175-0 (meet record); 2. Paige Newby, ACU, 156-2; 3. Adree Lakey, Angelo, 152-2.
100 ? 1. Wanda Hutson, ACU, 11.63; 2. Celethia Byrd, Angelo, 11.68; 3. Chelsey Bradford, Tarleton, 12.16; 4. Joella Foster, ACU, 12.39 (wind 3.3).
200 ? 1. Celethia Byrd, Angelo, 23.89; 2. Kim Prather, ACU, 24.11; 3. Wanda Hutson, ACU, 24.15; 5. Azraa Rounds, ACU, 25.51; 7. Joella Foster, ACU, 26.60 (wind 2.9).
400 ? 1. Kim Prather, ACU, 55.71; 2. Azraa Rounds, ACU, 56.88; 3. Daunyae Harris, Angelo, 57.78.
800 ? 1. Andria Nussey, Angelo, 2:19.34; 2. Brittney Heath, Angelo, 2:20.48; 3. Kymberlee Trnka, Tarleton, 2:21.85.
1,500 ? 1. Brittney Heath, Angelo, 4:44.46; 2. Paige Massingill, Angelo, 4:47.13; 3. Kymberlee Trnka, Tarleton, 4:49.85.
5,000 ? 1. Winrose Karunde, ACU, 18:25.21; 2. Paige Massingill, Angelo, 18:51.20; 3. Loice Cheboi, ACU, 19:11.94; 10. Hayley Garner, ACU, 20:32.75.
100 Hurdles ? 1. Kandis Brooks, Tarleton, 14.17; 2. Chrystal Ruiz, Angelo, 14.32; 3. Andria Nussey, Angelo, 14.54; 4. Destinee Nixon, ACU, 14.83; 7. Amanda Clemons, ACU, 15.36 (wind 3.8).
400 Hurdles ? 1. Aisha Adams, Angelo, 1:00.08; 2. Kris Crockett, Angelo, 1:02.48; 3. Chrystal Ruiz, Angelo, 1:03.16; 5. Destinee Nixon, ACU, 1:05.42.
400 Relay ? 1. Abilene Christian (Wanda Hutson, Azraa Rounds, Joella Foster, Kim Prather), 46.78; 2. Angelo State, 47.64; 3. Tarleton State, 48.98.
1,600 Relay ? 1. Angelo State, 3:44.29; 2. Abilene Christian, 3:46.63; 3. Tarleton State, 4:00.13.
ACU Football: Sam Hicks Prepares for Canadian Football League Debut
Tuesday, June 09
ACU Baseball: Rick McCarty Press Conference | May 11, 2026
Tuesday, May 12
ACU Baseball: Senior Day Ceremony | May 9, 2026
Saturday, May 09
ACU Softball: Jo Koons Press Conference | May 4, 2026
Monday, May 04
