ABILENE - Abilene Christian's men's and women's track and field teams will have its final tuneup for the Southland Conference Championships Saturday at Texas Tech for the Red Raider Open.
Events begin at 10:30 a.m. with the men's javelin and conclude late in the night with the men's 4x400-meter relay as running events won't start at Terry and Linda Fuller Track and Field Complex until 6 p.m.
This trip to Lubbock is ACU's third of 2014 and second of the outdoor season. The Wildcats last competed there on April 5 for the Texas Tech Open and then played host to the Red Raiders on April 12 for the inaugural West Kittley Invitational.
ACU did quite well at the Texas Tech Open as its two rosters combined for four personal records and nine top-five showings. Among the Wildcats finishing among the top-five were hurdler Lexus Williams (13.89), 800-meter runner Daniel Block (1:53.15), triple jumper Jeremy Tatham (47-7), plus four throwers and the men's 4x100-meter relay (40.87).
A week later at the Kittley Invitational, ACU's men's 4x100 clocked a season best time of 40.35 which ranks second in the Southland Conference to Sam Houston State (40.27). The Bearkats also recorded their season-best mark at ACU's Elmer Gray Stadium.
Elsewhere in the Southland rankings, Wildcat sophomore Johnathan Farquharson - who is coming off a seventh-place 100m showing at Drake Relays - still ranks second to Northwestern State senior Justin Walker, 10.34 to 10.08, and is 10th in the 200m standings at 21.24.
Block, who came in third place in the Drake's 800m invitational, also is third in the Southland rankings at 1:51.27 behind Lamar's Aaron Bennett (1:49.21) and Southeastern Louisiana freshman Alex Holden (1:51.18). Block's best 1500m time of 3:52.91, meanwhile, ranks fifth in the league - but is 10 seconds behind that of leader Sam Stabler of Lamar (3:42.18). Stabler's best this season is also eight seconds faster than second-ranked Philipp Baar of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (3:50.23).
Tatham and Luke Woods both are ranked among the top eight sprint hurdlers with times of 14.55 and 14.75 that were both recorded at the Kittley Invitational. And Tatham's 47-7 triple jump from the TTU Outdoor Open remains the eighth best in the Southland, three inches behind teammate Darian Hogg (47-10).
In the men's throwing events, senior Baptiste Kerjean is still No. 1 in the Southland Hammer (217-7), while Aaron Bynum is third in the discus (169-1) and sixth in the javelin (195-0).
On the women's side of the Southland rankings, freshmen Shaunice Guyton and Diana Garcia Munoz rank fourth and seventh, respectively, in the 200m (24.00) and 1500m (4:41.30), while in the hurdles, senior Lexus Williams ranks third (13.83) and freshman Ramesheon Marine is 10th (14.08).
Rookie pole vaulter Kenzie Walker has the seventh best height in the conference of 12-2.5 and in the throws, ACU is led by freshman Sydney Shelstead in the discus (143-9), seniors Shalania Lakey (173-11) and Lauren Hartwick in the hammer (169-7), and senior Amelia Mitchell (146-1) in the javelin.
The upcoming Southland Conference Championships will take place at Central Arkansas from May 9-11.
