ABILENE -- Abilene Christian's Elmer Gray Stadium will play host to a NCAA Track and Field Last Chance Meet Sunday starting at 11 a.m.
The Wildcats are one of several schools entered along with McMurry, Hardin-Simmons, Wayland Baptist, Texas Wesleyan, Odessa and North Texas. ACU this weekend also will be sending a small group of student-athletes to Saturday's
Texas A&M-Aggie Invitational.
ACU enters this weekend with 15 marks listed on the
NCAA West Prelim top-50 performance chart. Sophomore
Zoe Spinn (high jump) and junior
Annina Brandenburg (discus) each are ranked 13th in their respective events. Brandenburg also is No. 19 in the shot put.
Freshman triple jumper
Ella Anttila moved up to 33rd in her premier event after reaching 42-feet, 1.25 inches (12.83m) two weeks ago at the Oliver Jackson Twilight, and freshman
Irene Rono is the region's 32nd-ranked runner in the 10K. In the heptathlon,
Megan Kirby's 5025 points at Texas Relays have her ranked 33rd.
On the men's side, junior JJ Play ranks 17th in the decathlon,
Sean Germany has the No. 34-ranked triple jump, and hurdler
Jamal January is No. 25 in the 110 hurdles (13.94).
Those on the cusp of qualifying include
Ethan Christian in the decathlon (47th),
Jack Marshall in the 100m (47th),
Payton Kirk in the long jump (44th) and
Tyler Richardson in the shot put (47th). Marshall, however, is No. 30 in the 200m (20.91).
The preliminary round format will include 48 student-athletes per in individual events and 24 in relay events. The men's 4x100m relay of Marshall,
Avery Williams,
Le'Gari Daniels and
Harrison Manuel currently ranks 35th with their time of 40.12.
Even if the Wildcats don't improve their marks Sunday at home they have another opportunity to do so next weekend at the Southland Conference Championships (May 14-16) hosted by Humble (Texas) ISD's Turner Stadium.
