ACU women finish third, men land in fifth at WAC Indoors

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The ACU track and field wrapped up the WAC Indoor Championships on Saturday, turning in a bevy of strong performances to close out the indoor season. The ACU women finished the weekend in third place as a team, while the Wildcat men came in fifth. 
 
INSIDE THE MEET:

• RESULTS
• Host: Western Athletic Conference
• Site: Albuquerque Convention Center
• Location: Albuquerque, N.M. 

 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• J.J. Ply opened the day by picking up his fourth PR of this weekend's decathlon, as his time of 8.13 in the 60m hurdles landed him in second place. He added yet another lifetime best in the pole vault before winning the decathlon with a total of 5,633 points. 
• Teammate Ethan Christian finished the decathlon in fifth place with a score of 4,978, good enough for seventh on ACU's all-time leaderboard.
• Ella Anttila brought home a conference title in the triple jump with a personal best distance of 12.92m (42' 4 ¾"), while Luize Velmere (11.68m/38 3 ¼") added points to ACU's total.  
• Briahna Gerlach finished strong in the finals of the women's mile, coming in fifth place with a time of 5:00.21. 
• Jamal January became ACU's first-ever Division I hurdle event title with a PR time of 7.89 in the 60m hurdles, while Harrison Manuel (8.03) came in sixth place in the same event.  
• Megan Kirby gave the Wildcats a top-five finish in the women's 60m hurdles, doing so with a time of 8.68. 
• Jared Williams (48.31) closed out his final indoor race with a seventh-place finish in the 400m. 
• On the women's side, freshman Ja'Dasia Sims took third in the 400m with a huge lifetime best of 55.50. 
• Tyler Richardson finished the men's weight throw in fourth place with a distance of 17.71m (58' 1"). 
• Will Harris picked up the silver with a personal best distance of 14.89m in the triple jump, good enough for tenth on ACU's all-time list. 
• Taylor Tolen won the 60m dash with a PR time of 7.40, good enough for third on the ACU record book. Less than an hour later, she added a third-place finish in the 200m dash with a time of 24.23. 
• Garrison Shindler picked up a sixth-place finish in the 800m with a time of 1:57.99. 
• Irene Rono 9:39.74 added another medal to a stellar weekend with a runner-up finish in the 3K. 
• Levi Chambers finished the 3K in 15:09.90 in seventh place, setting a new personal best. 
• The men's 4x400 relay team (Williams/Marshall/January/Manuel) came in fifth place behind a season best time of 3:15.69. 
• The women's 4x400 team (Tolen/Sims/Walker/Kirby) came in third place with a season-best effort of 3:46.67 to round out the weekend. 

 
UP NEXT:

• The Wildcats now turn focus to the outdoor season, which is set to begin on March 17 with the first day of the Wes Kittley Invitational and Multis in Abilene.