Track and Field back to Panhandle; distance runners to Pitt St.

Friday, February 14

Lubbock, Texas

All Day

Abilene Christian

Texas Tech Shootout

Photo by: Michael Wade/Southland Conferenc

Track and Field back to Panhandle; distance runners to Pitt St.

2/14/2020 9:54:00 AM | Track & Field

Gorilla Indoor Classic Results Texas Tech Shootout Results Watch Heat Sheets

ABILENE - Wildcat track and field is split between two locales this weekend. A majority of the roster heads back to Lubbock for the second time in three weeks for the Texas Tech Shootout, while coach Jarvis Jelen's distance runners venture further north to Pittsburg, Kan., for the fifth-annual Gorilla Indoor Classic.

Friday's action in Pittsburg will begin at 2 p.m. (CST) with field events and 3 p.m. with track events. On Saturday, the action begins at 10 a.m. Approximately 60 schools will enter 1,500 athletes into the competition.

ACU will have representation in six Gorilla Classic events, including the men's and women's 3 and 5,000-meter runs. Junior Briahna Gerlach will be making her indoor 5K debut this weekend. She is currently ranked second in the Southland mile at 4:55.27 and No. 3 in the 3K at 9:53.10.

The Pitt State women are ranked No. 16 in the most recent USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Top 25 poll released Tuesday (Feb. 11), while the Pitt State men are ranked No. 21.

No. 23 (M) / N. 24 (W)Texas Tech, meanwhile, will play host to the Wildcats in addition to Alabama, Arizona, BYU, Iowa, Ole Miss and Virginia Tech. Events begin Friday at 3:30 p.m. with the weight throw and conclude with the 8:20 p.m. running of the men's 5K. Saturday's schedule of events runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Junior Annina Brandenburg remains ACU's highest ranked athlete this indoor season, coming in at No. 29 in the shot put (15.94m / 52-03.75). Adding one meter to her current season best would push her into the top-12 on the NCAA's performance list.

ACU's men's throwers are also excelling indoors. Redshirt freshman Tyler Richardson is No. 1 in the Southland shot put at 16.87m (55-4.25) and No. 4 in the weight throw behind first-and-third ranked teammates Thomas Wilson (18.07m / 59-03.50) and Jacob Mechler (17.95m / 58-10.75).

On the track, senior Avery Williams claims the league's fourth-fastest 400m time at 47.87 and his 1600-meter relay is ranked third at 3:14.61.

The versatile junior Megan Kirby is entered in four events at Texas Tech: 200m, sprint hurdles, 4x400m relay and long jump. So far this season she has the league's fourth-fastest 60m hurdles time of 8.82 and fifth-best long jump of 5.68m (18-07.75) in addition to the No. 3 pentathlon total of 3,594.