ABILENE - Abilene Christian's men's and women's track and field teams will make their first of several trips this season to Lubbock and the campus of Texas Tech for Friday's and Saturday's annual Masked Rider Open.
Running and field events begin Friday at 4:30 p.m. with the women's 55m hurdles prelims and men's pole vault. The women's high jump begins Saturday's schedule at 10 a.m. and running events start at 11 a.m. with the women's 200m dash.
A number of excellent performances were turned in by the Wildcats at last year's edition of this meet. Reyare Thomas placed fifth in the 55-meter dash in 7.07 seconds and Emily Hill recorded a pair of top-8 showings in the 800m and 1000m.
While in the men's events from last January, Johnathan Farquharson won the 55m dash with a season best 6.30 seconds, Joshua Bloom recorded the team's best shot put distance of 45-7 (13.89 meters) and Baptiste Kerjean won the weight throw with an effort of 58-1 (17.70m). Andrew Hudson was second to Kerjean with a throw of 55-1.5 (16.80m).
Both Bloom and Kerjean - the defending Southland Field Athlete of the Week - have continued to make great strides in their respective events as each established new personal records last Saturday's J.D. Martin Invitational.
Bloom placed third behind Oklahoma's Austin Perry and Tyler Sergent with a personal indoor record of 50-9.5 (15.48m). The sophomore two-sport student-athlete recorded his top throw on his third attempt, which was five feet further than his best from 2013 (45-7 / 13.89m).
Kerjean, meanwhile, launched the weight 62-6 (19.05,) to defeat seven competitors. His throw was a personal best by more than two feet and is the third best mark in ACU history. His previous record of 60-6.5 (18.45m) was recorded Feb. 2, 2013 at the Texas Tech Red Raider Open and qualified him for the NCAA D-II Championships.
The only two Wildcats ranked higher than Kerjean in this event are Glenn Griffin, who set the varsity record of 65-0 (19.81m) in March of 1997 and Cliff Felkins, who held the school record for the better part of a decade after registering a toss of 63-4 (19.30m) in Lubbock in 1987.
Also of note from last weekend were the performances of young multi-athletes Ramesheon Marin, Taylor Yantis and Luke Woods. Marine tied her personal record in the 60 hurdles (8.90 seconds) and posted a new PR of just over 17-0.5 feet (5.19m) in the long jump, while Yantis recorded marks of 9.51 in the 60H, 15-8.25 (4.78m) in the long jump and 5-00.25 (1.53) in the high jump.
Woods recorded a personal record in the shot put by over two feet (39-7 / 12.06m) in Norman, Okla., and in College Station two weeks ago he established new lifetime bests in the 60 hurdles (8.61) and long jump (21-1.5 / 6.44m). Woods won the Lone Star Conference heptathlon last February as a freshman with 4,520 points.
Even though the Wildcats - as first-year members of NCAA D-I - are not eligible to compete for national championships and all-America citations this year, they can still win the Southland Conference Championship. And two weeks into the season, ACU has 16 student-athletes spread across 13 events ranked among the league's top-10 performers.
Farquharson is No. 1 in the Southland in the 200m (21.47) and third in the 60m (6.80), while Thomas is tops in the women's 200m (23.91).
Newcomer Daniel Block is No. 1 in the 800m (1:52.67) and both Erik Forrister and Diana Garcia Munoz are eighth in the 3,000m with times of 8:45.06 and 10:26.63.
Marine, Woods and Jeremy Tatham all are top-8 in the 60-meter hurdles and Darian Hogg is a top-5 performer in the long (23-0.75 / 7.03m) and triple jumps (47-1.5 /14.36m).
Bloom's mark from Oklahoma ranks him fifth in the Southland shot put, while Kerjean is fourth in the weight throw.
Shalania Lakey and Lauren Hartwick are sixth and eighth, respectively, in the women's weight throw with top efforts of 54-4 (16.56m) and 51-5 (15.67m).
