ABILENE - Abilene Christian's men's and women's track and field teams begin their first season as an NCAA Division I member of the Southland Conference Saturday at Texas A&M as participants in a 10-team invitational that will be scored.
The meet also signals the first competition for the Wildcats under first-year head track and field coach
Keith Barnier, who was hired last May to take over the program.
Competition for the Wildcats includes the host Aggies, plus Baylor, Louisiana Tech, Rice, SMU, TCU, Texas State and UT-Arlington and UT-San Antonio. Texas A&M's men's and women's teams are both ranked among the USTFCCCA's top-five preseason teams, while the Baylor men are ranked 18th.
A majority of events take place Saturday at College Station's Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium, however, both the distant medley relay and 5,000-meter run are scheduled for Friday at 4:40 p.m. Saturday's field events start at noon with the men's high jump and the first running event will take place a half hour later with prelims for the women's 60-meter dash.
Texas A&M is providing live stats and video for its invitational and will have it televised via the school's 12thManTV.
The ACU women begin 2014 with a young roster comprised of 17 freshmen and five returnees from last year's indoor team that finished 10th at nationals and won the Lone Star Conference title with 150 points. Leading the charge are all-America senior sprinter Reyare Thomas, conference 55 hurdles champion Lexus Williams, veteran middle distance runner Emily Hill and throwers Shalania Lakey and Lauren Hartwick, who finished first and second, respectively, at last winter's LSC Championship in the weight throw.
Lakey and Hartwick will be joined in the throws by one new addition - freshman Brooke Lavender of Farwell High School.
A majority of the freshmen women are entered in the distance events and already have one season of cross country competition under their belt. The best of this group from last fall were Diana Garcia Munoz and Madeline Jordan. Munoz finished runner-up to senior all-America Chloe Susset at all six meets, which included a top-10 showing in Lubbock, top-20 finish at the Southland Conference meet and top-40 appearance at the Cowboy Jamboree.
Munoz also placed among the top five at events hosted by McMurry and Incarnate Word.
Jordan got off to a strong start last fall in placing among the top-five at McMurry and top-20 at the Red Raider Invitational, but was unable to compete the rest of the way due to injury.
New to the sprints are several newcomers, including sophomore hurdler Elizabeth Oyetunde. In 2012, she won the District 1-5A 100H and 300H for El Paso Franklin High School but did not officially join the Wildcats' roster until last fall.
Meanwhile, Shaunice Guyton of Lubbock Coronado HS looks like she could give the Wildcats a nice one-two punch in the 200m alongside Thomas. Guyton won the District 2-5A 200m title and was sixth in the Region I-5A 200m. She also won the Texas Tech High School Invitational indoor meet 200m with a time that was 11th fastest among all Texas prep 200m times in 2013.
ACU's offseason recruiting haul also brought in three multi-athletes and pole vaulters Abby Ayers and Abilene's McKenzie Walker. Ayers, a sophomore, placed seventh at the 2012 Texas state meet in the pole vault for Albany High School, and Walker, a freshmen, is coming off a sixth-place showing in the 3A vault in 2013. Walker additionally placed sixth in the 100H in the 2011 3A state meet after first winning this race at the District 4-3A championship.
Taylor Yantis, Ramesheon Marine and Alisha Walker are the Wildcats' newest multi-athletes. Yantis, who is a 2013 graduate of Paradise Valley High School, placed second in the Arizona heptathlon each of the past two seasons and her total of 4,278 points last year would have placed fifth at the Southland Conference meet in 2013, just a few points behind the fourth-place finisher.
Yantis also is regarded as a solid hurdler. At the AIA Division II state meet, she was second in the 100H and 300H, as well as seventh in the long jump and eighth in the high jump. Her 15.02 in the 100H was the eighth fastest time in Arizona in 2013 and her 43.27 in the 300H was the third fastest in Arizona and the 82nd fastest in the country.
Marine and Alisha Walker are each from Round Rock. Marine won the District 16-5A 100H and 300H for Round Rock Stony Point in 2013, while Walker placed fifth for Round Rock HS in the District 16-5A 300H and 8th in the 100H.
On the men's side, the Wildcats return 14 student-athletes from last season's conference indoor championship team and many of them are entering their sophomore year of eligibility. ACU also brings back junior 400m/800m runner Osei Allyene-Forte, who was part of last February's LSC 4x400 Championship relay, and seniors Erik Forrister, Darian Hogg and Baptiste Kerjean.
Forrister ran the first leg on ACU's conference championship DMR relay (10:42.78) and was its second-fastest runner in the mile, 3K and 5K. And even though Forrister lost a great relay partner in Xavier King - who decided to transfer closer to home on the East Coast - he will be joined by several of his cross country teammates from this past fall, most notably sophomore Taylor Ochs and newcomer Daniel Block.
Ochs ran the DMR's third leg and several times was entered in the 800m, mile or 3K.
Hogg finished as the triple jump runner-up at the conference championships with a distance of 47 feet-11.25 inches and took fourth in the long jump (22-10.50/6.97). Kerjean, meanwhile, won the weight throw at LSCs with a launch of 60-02.50 (18.35) and later placed 11th at nationals (59-00.75/18.00m).
The most decorated returner of all the sophomores is sprinter of Johnathan Farquharson, who in his first year with the Wildcats, won the 55m title at conference (6.32) and earned all-America status in the 60m with a time of 6.80 seconds. Farquharson also came in as the conference runner-up in the 200m at LSCs (21.40) and recorded the team's best distance in the long jump to place third (23-01.75/7.05).
Additional returning sophomores - all of who competed throughout indoors and outdoors - include sprinter Devan Brown, jumpers Malcolm Barnes and Keaton Hart, multi-athletes/hurdlers Jeremy Tatham and Luke Woods, and throwers Josh Bloom and Jelani Rainey.
Bloom and Rainey, who led ACU in the shot put in 2013, will be joined by freshman DeAndre Key. An Abilene native and graduate of Wylie High School, Key placed fourth in the District 4-3A discus, but is expected to work on the indoor weight throw during his first year.
Tatham was ACU's top hurdler last winter, and with Woods - the defending LSC heptathlon champion (4,520 points) - give the Wildcats a formidable combination in the multi-events. Tatham's best sprint hurdle time indoors was recorded at 7.73 seconds, while Woods' clocked in at 8.04.
Helping to fill the void left by conference champion sprinter and all-America Jordan Geary is a quartet of freshmen: Maliek Golden, Isaiah McFail, Byron Turner and Brylen Williams.
Golden was on the McKinney North 4x400m relay that placed third at the Texas 4A state meet, and in 2012 he placed second in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump at the District 10-4A meet.
McFail of Mansfield Summit High School finished sixth in the 100m for District 15-4A, which is considered to be one of the toughest track conferences in Texas.
Williams' accomplishments include taking fourth place at the Region II-3A 100m and winning the District 10-4A 400m for McKinney North as a sophomore. Both he and Turner are expected to provide solid depth in all the sprint events.
