FRISCO, Texas – Senior thrower
Kayla Melgar Wednesday was announced as the Southland Conference's 2019 Outdoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year. The Tempe, Ariz., native accumulated 26 points during the three-day meet, finishing first in the shot put with a toss of 52-08.0 ft to go along with a pair of second-place finishes in the discus (168-08.0 ft) and hammer throw (184-00.0 ft) events.
Southland yearly awards are presented by Ready Nutrition.
The conference today also revealed its 2019 Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field All-Conference First, Second and Third Teams. The top three finishers from each event's final at the championship meet are automatically named All-Southland Conference, which means the Wildcats earned seven first-team citations, four second-team plaudits, and six third-team honors.
A impressive haul of 12 medals were awarded to Melgar (shot put) and her throwing teammates. In addition to Melgar's three medals, ACU also took home the gold in the men's shot put (
Kai Schmidt), women's discus (
Annina Brandenburg) and hammer throw (
Lonnie Smith).
Brandenburg additionally placed second in the javelin, while
Morgan Knight earned silver and bronze medals in the discus and shot put, respectively.
Ryan Simmons also furthered his team's cause with a pair of third-place showings in the discus and javelin.
Sophomore
Jared Williams earned two gold medals on the track, first in the 400-meter dash and then with the 4x400-meter relay. Joining
Jared Williams on the relay were
Ryan Linton,
Blaze Brownlow and
Avery Williams.
Senior
Ryan Cleary, was first in the steeplechase and third in the 1500-meter run, while junior
Irene Akwitti earned her first conference medal after placing third in the sprint hurdles.
ACU's men's and women's track and field teams each scored 104 points at the Northwestern State-based meet. This point total was high enough to earn the men runner-up honors for the second-consecutive spring, but it was only good for fourth place on the women's side despite serving as a program record.
Next up for Melgar and the Wildcats is a trip to Sacramento, Calif. for the NCAA West Preliminary. Events start Thursday, May 23.
