ABILENE -- Abilene Christian's men's and women's track and field teams begin their 2020 indoor seasons at Texas A&M's Gilliam Stadium for the third-annual Ted Nelson Invitational on Friday, January 17 at 1:30 p.m. and Saturday, January 18 at 2 p.m.
Friday's events include the men's and women's 5,000-meter run and distance medley relays, while the remaining 30 events will take place Saturday.
This year's teams slant toward youth as the rosters are composed of more than 40 first-year competitors (35 true freshmen, five redshirt freshmen, three transfers); however, the Wildcats also return All-America
Annina Brandenburg (shot put) and a host of West Preliminary qualifiers and All-Southland Conference honorees including
Megan Kirby (60m hurdles, long jump, 4x400m relay),
Ryan Linton (200m, 4x400m relay) and
Avery Williams (400m, 4x400m relay).Â
Linton and Williams will be accompanied on the 1600m relay by junior and Southland Outdoor 400m champion
Jared Williams and freshman
Ethan Christian, who placed eighth in the 300m hurdles at the 2019 6A State Championship for Keller Timber Creek High School.
Senior
Irene Akwitti - the Southland's bronze medalist in the outdoor sprint hurdles - competes this weekend in the 60m hurdles and 200m dash.
Junior
Briahna Gerlach, who led the Wildcats throughout the 2019 cross country season as a an All-South Central Region and Southland Conference performer, is one of 14 entrants in the 3,000-meter run, while
Zoe Spinn, who just missed the medal stand at Southland Indoors with her fourth place leap of 1.72m (5-07.75), will compete in the high jump.
Additional returning scorers from last year's indoor meet in Birmingham, Ala., include sophomore sprint hurdler
Jamal January, distance runner
Denis Lagat, and thrower Thomas Wilson, who is the team's most experience male thrower following the departures of
McKennon Cecil,
Ryan Simmons,
Kai Schmidt,
Josh Hunter and
Morgan Knight. The women's throwing unit goes into this season without NCAA honorable mention
Kayla Melgar, plus
Lonnie Smith,
Taylor Posey and
Reagan Mabery.
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Scoring
The two-day event team scores will be separate per day, with the exception of the men's and women's DMR and 5,000 m that will conclude on Friday but include teams from Saturday's meet. The men's and women's 4x400m relay finals will be held on Saturday, but will only include teams from Friday's meet.
The Competition
The host Aggies will matchup against five in-state rivals across the two-day meet: Abilene Christian, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, UT-Arlington and UTSA in addition to SEC foe Kentucky.
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Teams competing Friday include Barton County CC, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Lamar, Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana Monroe, Louisiana Tech, McNeese State, North Texas, Northwestern State, Prairie View A&M, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas Southern, UTRGV, UT-Tyler and Western Texas College.
