ABILENE – Select member of the Abilene Christian men's and women's track and field teams will be in Lubbock Saturday for the 2013 season-opening Texas Tech Open at the Athletic Training Center.
The single-day meet is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. with running events following at 11:30 a.m. A total of 30 teams and over 500 athletes will compete against the Wildcats in what will be the first of four trips ACU makes to Lubbock for the indoor season. The Wildcats' full team will be there again next weekend for the Masked Rider Open, then again in early February for the Texas Tech Open, and lastly for the Lone Star Conference Indoor Championships, which runs from Feb. 23 to 24.
Seven ACU men and three women are scheduled to represent the Wildcats through six events, led by seniors Parker Petty, Baptiste Kerjean, Shalaina Lakey and Matthew Stark. Also included on the travel roster are freshmen Luke Woods, Josh Bloom and Jelani Rainey, sophomore Lauren Hartwick, and juniors Tara Riley and Andrew Hudson.
A native of Bushland, Texas, Hudson arrived at ACU after spending his first two seasons at Oklahoma State, where he ranks eighth all-time in the discus with a throw of 175 feet-7 inches (53.32 meters). Hudson also competed at the 2012 NCAA West Preliminaries and made the USTFCCA and Big 12 Conference All-Academic teams.
Head coach Roosevelt Lofton and throws coach
Jerrod Cook both spoke glowingly of the former Cowboy, and although this is his first year to compete in the weight and hammer, they believe he is destined for greatness.
“Andrew has the ability, talent and work ethic to represent us as a dual threat outdoors and indoors in the weight throw,” Cook said. “Now this wouldn't be typical for most throwers in their first year, but this kid is fantastic. He really does a lot of work outside of practice and really pushes himself to be the best.
“I've never met anyone quite like him. He has an amazing personality – a combination of leadership, faith, and positive attitude - that is helping our teams excel so much. He is a tremendous blessing to have around our track and field family.”
“Andrew is a very good athlete and definitely has that discus thrower build (6-5, 220) with the long arms,” added Lofton. “He's very enthusiastic, has lots of upside and potential, and could definitely qualify for us at nationals in the discus. And we'll try and get him there in the weight throw.”
Accompanying Hudson in the throws are Kerjean, a returning all-America in the hammer, along with rookies Bloom and Rainey. Kerjean joined the Wildcats last year, competed twice in the weight throw, and then went on to place third at outdoor nationals in the hammer with a top mark of 210-09 (64.25m). He also broke the Elmer Gray Stadium record in the hammer with a first-place distance of 210-03 (64.08m).
Petty earned the first all-America citation of his career in the heptathlon last season after posting a seventh-place total of 5,032 points. The White Deer, Texas, native qualified for nationals after winning the heptathlon title at the Lone Star Conference Invitational with a personal record 5,174 points, which was the third best in all of Division II behind Central Missouri's Brent Vogel (5,315) and Darius Walker (5,298).
Petty later qualified for outdoor nationals in the decathlon and earned all-region and conference honors behind a season-best score of 6,845 points. Stark, meanwhile, placed third in the heptathlon at the indoor LSC Invitational with 4,315 points and eighth at the conference championships in the decathlon (6,034 points).
Woods, a freshman from Houston, is the newest addition to ACU's multi roster and Lofton looks forward to seeing him flourish in the years to come.
“Luke is a very good athlete, but he's still young and the multis can be a tough event at first with most competitors not taking off until their junior year,” he said. “He still has a few years to develop and time to learn all the mechanics of the different events, but I expect him to be competitive and go far once he gets all that experience under his belt.”
On the women's side, Riley recorded ACU's top throws last season in the discus (154-00) and indoor (40-07.00) and outdoor shot put (41-09.25), Hartwick made the all-conference team with a win in the hammer throw (163-04), and Lakey earned Lone Star Conference Player of the Week honors on April 19 after recording a NCAA provisional qualifying throw of 163-7 to place fourth in the hammer at the UTEP Invitational.
Bloom and Rainey both threw in high school in addition to playing football. Rainey comes to ACU from the Metroplex and Lucas Lovejoy High School, while Bloom, who made the Wildcats' football team last fall, is a native of Kingwood, Texas.
Cook sees Bloom excelling in the shot put this season and Rainey doing his part to score in the weight throw.
“Josh is really excelling in the shot put,” he said. “He's been very coachable and has quickly adapted to the proper technique. I'm expecting to see him qualify for NCAAs in the shot put and possibly in the discus.
“As for Jelani, I see him recording great marks as a freshman in the weight throw and land in the upper half of the conference standings. He's blessed with natural ability and has developed each and every day. I'm excited to see what he can do for the Wildcats.”
Wildcat Entries (Men)
400 - Parker Petty, Matthew Stark, Luke Woods
55H - Parker Petty, Matthew Stark, Luke Woods
PV - Parker Petty, Matthew Stark, Luke Woods
LJ - Parker Petty, Matthew Stark, Luke Woods
SP - Josh Bloom, Jelani Rainey
WT - Andrew Hudson, Baptiste Kerjean, Josh Bloom, Jelani Rainey
Wildcat Entries (Women)
SP - Tara Riley, Lauren Hartwick
WT - Shalaina Lakey, Lauren Hartwick
