Track and Field sending nine Wildcats to 87th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays

Texas Relays | Texas State Bobcat Invitational

ABILENE - Abilene Christian's track and field program will be represented by nine student-athletes competing in eight events at this week's Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays.

The meet is set to take place March 26-29 at Mike A. Myers Stadium and will feature 6,552 competitors from 32 states and nine countries. The Relays get underway at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday with the beginning of the two-day multi-events and conclude Saturday night with the Cleburne Price, Jr. 4x400-meter relay.

ACU has two men's relays entered. It's sprint medley will be comprised of Johnathan Farquharson, Maliek Golden, Osei Alleyne-Forte and Daniel Block, while it's 4x100 will feature senior Darian Hogg in Block's place on the anchor leg.

Joining these relays in Austin are senior hammer throwers Baptiste Kerjean and Shalania Lakey, senior javelin thrower Amelia Mitchell, and junior sprint hurdler Lexus Williams. Block also is entered into the 1,500-meter run.

Kerjean is making his third appearance at the Texas Relays and has placed third in the hammer each of the past two springs. As a sophomore, Kerjean recorded a top effort of 207 feet-5 inches in placing behind Florida's Jeremy Postin and Oklahoma State's Nick Miller. In 2013, Kerjean added several feet to his distance (213-8) but could not beat out UCLA's Alec Faldermeyer (228-10) nor Oregon's Greg Skipper (216-5).

Farquharson made his Texas Relays debut last spring and just missed qualifying for the 100-meter finals with a prelim time of 10.51. On the relays, he finished fourth with the Wildcats' 4x100 (40.78) and eighth on the 4x400 (3:18.35). Alleyne-Forte was a teammate of Farquharson's on the 4x100 relay, and ran for several Wildcat relays (4x100, 4x400, Sprint Medley) as a freshman in 2012.

Williams did not compete at the 2013 edition of the Texas Relays, but was in Austin as a freshman in 2012, recording a time of 14.36 to win her heat in the 100 hurdles in addition to running with the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.

Mitchell will be competing in her second straight javelin competition at The Relays. Last year she fared well in a 13-woman field, placing sixth with a top throw of 142-0.

Block, Hogg, Lakey and Golden - a freshmen - all are making their Texas Relays debuts.

ACU began its outdoor season last weekend at McMurry University's War Hawk Classic but collected only six victories as both the men's and women's teams placed fourth among 12 schools.

The Wildcats won five field events during the first day of competition and only one on the track as junior Emily Hill recorded a first-place time of 2:19.26 to edge the Eastern New Mexico duo of Sabrina Huelga (2:20.13) and Amber Saiz (2:20.83) right at the finish line of the 800-meter run. Hill's time was her best since her freshman year of 2012 when she recorded a personal best of 2:13.90 at Baylor.

Friday night, ACU won the women's pole vault (Kenzie Walker) in addition to sweeping the hammer (Lakey, Kerjean) and javelin (Mitchell, Aaron Bynum) competitions. Walker's winning height of 12-0 in the pole vault tied Annie Allison for 10th place on ACU's all-time outdoor performance list.

Bynum, who won the javelin at McMurry with a launch of 187-10, will lead a 25-person Wildcat contingent to the Bobcat Invitational hosted by Texas State in San Marcos. While there, ACU will be entered into 15 events including the decathlon and heptathlon.

Texas Relays Entries
Shalaina Lakey: Hammer, Univ/Coll Women
Baptiste Kerjean: Hammer, Univ/Coll Men
Amelia Mitchell: Javelin, Univ/Coll Women (Section B)
Daniel Block: 1500m, Univ Men (Section B)
Lexus Williams: 100 meter hurdles, Univ/Coll Women
Jay Farquharson: 100 meters, Univ Men

Jay Farquharson, Maliek Golden, Osei Alleyne-Forte, Daniel Block: Invitational Sprint Medley Relay, Univ Men

Maliek Golden, Jay Farquharson, Osei Alleyne-Forte, Darian Hogg: Clyde Littlefield 4x100m Relay, University Men


Bobcat Invitational Entries (subject to change)
110 hurdles - Jeremy Tatham