Results | Decathlon Results | Heptathlon Results
COMMERCE, Texas - In a history of extraordinary performances by the Wildcats of Abilene Christian University at the Lone Star Conference track and field championships, few have been more remarkable than the efforts of
Nick Jones and Parker Petty here Friday at the weather-delayed 78th annual meeting.
Jones, a senior from Amarillo (Tascosa HS), who is already a provisional qualifier in the shot put and discus throw for the U.S. Olympic trials this summer, threw in Friday's final round 64 feet, 2.5 inches – his second personal best of the day and also an ACU record, LSC meet record, and LSC best-ever. It also moved him to the No. 4 performer on the NCAA Division II all-time list and equal No. 6 on the 2012 U.S. collegiate list.
Jones, a three-time NCAA Division II champion in the discus and the favorite here Saturday, was already the 2012 NCAA Division II shot put leader at 62-5.
And also here Friday, he threw 174-10 to take third in the hammer throw – giving him 16 of the Wildcats' 52 points for the early lead in the race for their 19th consecutive LSC team title.
"My goal all year has been to break the school record,” Jones said after the shot put. “I had some great throws in practice this week. For me the school record comes first and then the NCAA. Nineteen ninety-four (19.94 meters, 65-5) leads Division I right now. That is definitely within my reach.”
He erased one of the oldest records in the ACU books – 63-10.25 by Ahmed Shata in 1986 at the NCAA Division II national meet in Los Angeles.
Jones had the longest six throws of Friday's competition. He started with 57-9.75 – good enough to win – and followed with 57-11.75 and a very good 62-3.25 in the third round. But there was more to come. In the finals he hit 60-4.5, his first personal best of 63-2.25 and then the monster throw of 64-2.5.
His new Wildcat teammate, Frenchman Baptiste Kerjean, won the hammer throw at 205-5 with Jones in third and another Wildcat, Milo Parsons, in sixth for 19 points.
“We needed the points,” Jones said of the hammer. “I wanted to do well. I worked on it once last week and twice this week. I definitely think I performed well. I wasn't even on the (LSC performance) list. It feels good to take those points away from Kingsville.”
Petty's showing in the decathlon was equally impressive. He overcame a deficit of 376 points after Friday's first event – the 110-meter hurdles – and won by 211 points over Angelo State's Seth Pearson. It was the third straight LSC multi-event title for the White Deer junior following the 2011 LSC outdoor decathlon win and a victory in the men's heptathlon at the 2012 Lone Star indoor invitational.
Parker outscored Pearson by 13 points in the discus throw, by 353 points in the pole vault, by 108 points in the javelin throw and 113 points in the 1,500 meters to finish with 6,700 points – well over his winning score of 6,236 last year – to 6,489 for Pearson.
“Day two was a lot better than day one,” Petty said. “I threw three meters better in the discus (105-1). I vaulted well (won at 14-7.25) and had a nice javelin throw (second at 169-4). I ran nice and easy in the 1,500 (4:42.24) to save my legs for tomorrow.”
His schedule Saturday includes three open events – the pole vault, javelin throw and high jump.
After his 16.21 in the 110 hurdles (Pearson was second in 15.66), he trailed Pearson, 4,548 to 4,172.
“I just wanted to control what I can control,” Petty said of the deficit. “I wanted to do the best I can do and what happens just happens. The vault gave me confidence to throw well in the javelin.”
His teammate, Abilenian Matthew Stark, came from a non-scoring ninth place after Thursday to finish eighth with 6,034 points (one point in the team standings).
In the women's heptathlon, ACU's Cassie Brooks improved on her 4,696 to win the LSC heptathlon last year to 4,801 this year – but that was good for only fourth place in a competition won Friday by Shelton Morgan of West Texas A&M at 5,190.
Twice here Friday the meet was delayed by lightening – once in the afternoon and again during the women's 10,000 meters about 9:30 p.m. The runners were pulled from the track, and late Friday officials were still hoping to complete the men's and women's 10,000.
All preliminaries were competed except the men's and women's 200. They will be contested Saturday as timed finals with multiple sections of each.
After five events in the men's division, ACU leads with 52 points to 42 for its top challenger, Texas A&M-Kingsville, and 40 for Angelo State. The ACU women had 56 points through six events to trail reigning champ Angelo State (63) and lead West Texas A&M (27), which won the 2012 Lone Star indoor invitational.
ACU did have three other winners Friday – all from its inspired women's team. Chloe Susset won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:44.78, Lauren Hartwick led a 1-2-3 sweep in the hammer with 163-4 (Shalania Lakey was second, Alexis Wilder was third), and heavily favored Amanda Ouedraogo, the NCAA Division II leader and the 2012 Penn Relays champion, took the triple jump in 40-4.25.
She took only two jumps – a foul in the first round, then 40-4.25 before passing her final four attempts.
Also, Wilder and Tara Riley scored in the women's shot put, Levance Williams and football wide receiver Darian Hogg went 3-4 in the men's triple jump, and Jake Schofield scored one point with 9:50.65 for eighth in the men's steeplechase.
The original schedule for Saturday calls for field events at 11 a.m. and running finals at 5:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M-Commerce.
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