‘Cats set bevy of personal bests, climb up WAC leaderboard in impressive showing at Red Raider Open

LUBBOCK, Texas – The ACU indoor track and field team took part in the Red Raider Open on Friday, turning in an extraordinary day across the board. The Purple and White picked up more than a dozen lifetime bests on the afternoon, while several individuals placed themselves among the top competitors in the Western Athletic Conference. 
 
INSIDE THE MEET:

• Results
• Host: Texas Tech University
• Site: Sports Performance Center 
• Location: Lubbock, Texas

 
QUOTABLE:

• "This meet is the first step in competitions for this year and I am glad we were able to start the season and give ourselves a benchmark to build on," head coach Jerrod Cook said. "We had some good personal best performances but we are not yet where we are wanting to be across the board.  We are all looking forward to getting back to hitting training hard and building on what we did today." 

 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Payton Kirk tied her lifetime best in the pole vault, clearing 3.65m (11'11 ¾") in her final attempt. 
• Jack Marshall picked up a PR in the prelims of the 60m dash, and his 6.82 second effort ties him for third on the WAC leaderboard. Harrison Manuel, a hurdler by trade, followed with a PR of his own, finishing the same event in 6.97.
• Megan Kirby won her 60m hurdle heat with a lifetime best time of 8.63, the best mark in the WAC so far on the young season. She would later take 10th in the long jump, posting a distance of 5.70m (18' 8 ½") and seventh in the 60m with a time of 8.69. 
• Manuel posted a time of 8.13 in the 60m hurdles to match his lifetime best, while J.J. Ply followed with an 8.40 to shave a tenth of a second of his previous effort. 
• In her first race back in nearly two years, Julia Perry shattered her previous lifetime best by more than 2.5 seconds, running the 600y run in 1:28.57. 
• Irene Rono, who won an individual conference title in cross country last fall, made her debut in the mile with a best-in-the-WAC time of 4:55.69. Teammate Briahna Gerlach (5:06.95) is now on third on the WAC leaderboard, and the two picked up second and fourth place respectively in Friday's competition. 
• On the men's side, Levi Chambers (4:20.47, 5th place) and freshman Neal Helgerson (4.21.77, 8th place) gave the Wildcats another pair of top-ten finishes on the afternoon.
• Jared Williams began his senior season with a huge performance in the 400m dash with a new indoor PR time of 47.49. His mark is the new best mark in the conference and is just .02 away from an ACU top ten time. 
• Maxwel Kiplagat (1:56.53, 14th) and Garrison Shindler (1:56.72, 15th) both landed inside the top 15 for the day in the 800m run, as well as top five in the WAC.
• Freshman Tessa Holderman (10:30.40, 5th) and sophomore Prudence Kiyeng (10:38.34) added to ACU's strong day with strong outings in the 3K. 
• Defending WAC Field Athlete of the Week Ella Anttila claimed second in the triple jump with a distance of 12.53m (41' 1 ½").  
• The shot put duo of Athan Huelskamp (15.91m/52' 2 ½") and Tyler Richardson (15.56m/51' ¾") came in 8th and 9th respectively, with the former recording a personal best. 
• Annina Brandenburg launched the third-best throw of her career to claim second in the women's shot put, doing so with a WAC-leading distance of 15.90m (52' 2").  

 
UP NEXT: 

• The Purple and White look to continue the strong momentum into next weekend, when the team will split and compete at both the Texas Tech Invitational and Multis and the Pittsburg State Invitational.