ABILENE – Abilene Christian sends 38 athletes to the Western Athletic Conference Track and Field Champions in Nacogdoches May 11-13.
The ACU men are ranked third and the Wildcat women are picked sixth in the pre-meet polls released earlier today.
WAC track and field coaches have New Mexico State affixed as the favorite to take the women's title and Grand Canyon to claim the men's crown.
The three-day meet begins Thursday at 10 a.m. with
Ethan Christian representing ACU in the decathlon, an event in which he expected to score in the top five. Preliminaries begin for six races at 4:30 p.m. Thursday concludes with the finals of the men's and women's 10,000 meters, beginning at 7:45 p.m. Among those preliminaries is
Jamal January, ranked second in the 400 hurdles.
Finals in field events on Thursday include the hammer throw at 10 a.m. and the women's pole vault, in which
Payton Kirk is seeded third, at 1 p.m.
The decathletes and heptathletes begin their final day at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, concluding with the heptathlon 800 at 1:30 p.m. and the decathlon 1500 at 4 p.m.
Throwers take the spotlight at 2:30 p.m. with second-ranked
Zoe Burleson featured in the women's shot put.
Athan Huelskamp is the top-ranked entrant in the men's shot put at 5 p.m.
The long jump takes top billing for the jumpers with the men at 12:15 p.m. and the women at 3:15 p.m. Kirk is the top seed in the women's long jump with
Ella Anttila ranked fourth.
Track prelims continue on Friday, beginning at 4:30 p.m. with the 110 hurdles. January is ranked second and
Jeremy King fourth in the event. Other Friday prelims include the 800, 400 and 100.
Marshall is ranked second in the 100 and
Jared Williams is the third seed in the 400 for the men.
Ja'Dasia Sims is the No. 5 seed in the women's 400.
Friday finishes with the finals of the men's and women's 3000 meters steeplechase, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Field events kick off on a full day of finals on Saturday with top-ranked Burleson starting things off in the women's discus at 10 a.m. The men's discus at 1 p.m. see ACU's
Nathanial Collier ranked second and Huelskamp third.
Anttila, ranked atop the women's triple jump, gets started in that event at 3 p.m.
Kaitlyn Callaway is ranked fourth in the women's javelin, which begins at 4 p.m. Men's triple jump, women's high jump and men's pole vault also have their finals Saturday afternoon.
Track launches its home stretch at 3:30 p.m. with the men's and women's 400 relays. ACU is seeded third in the men's race and fourth in the women's.
ACU athletes will have had to qualify for the finals in most of Saturday's races except for the 5000 meters and the relays. The ACU women are ranked third in the 1600-meter relay – the final event of the meet.
ACU Schedule at the WAC Meet
Thursday, May 11
9:30 a.m. – Decathlon 100 (
Ethan Christian)
10 a.m. – Women's Hammer FINAL (
Kailey Roskop)
10:15 a.m. – Heptathlon 100 Hurdles (
Skylar Harris,
Natalie Poe,
Jessica Campbell)
10:15 a.m. – Dec Long Jump (Christian)
11:30 a.m. – Hep High Jump (Harris, Poe, Campbell)
Noon – Dec Shot Put (Christian)
1 p.m. – Women's Pole Vault FINAL (
Payton Kirk,
Mackenzie Blain)
1:30 p.m. – Dec High Jump (Christian)
1:45 p.m. – Hep Shot Put (Harris, Poe, Campbell)
3 p.m. – Hep 200 (Harris, Poe, Campbell)
3:45 p.m. – Dec 400 (Christian)
4:30 p.m. – Men's 1500 Prelim (
Neal Helgerson)
4:45 p.m. – Women's 1500 Prelim (
Bella Evans)
5 p.m. – Men's 200 Prelim (
Tyce Chaney,
Addison Franklin,
Jack Marshall,
Matthew Mills,
Jared Williams)
5:15 p.m. – Women's 200 Prelim (
Hannah Foster D'anna Smith,
Savannah Walker)
5:30 p.m. – Men's 400 Hurdles Prelim (
Jamal January)
5:45 p.m. – Women's 400 Hurdles Prelim (
Courtney Latham)
7:45 p.m. – Men's 10,000 FINAL (
Kevin Castruita)
8:30 p.m. – Women's 10,000 FINAL (
Irene Rono)
Friday
9:30 a.m. – Dec 110 Hurdles (Christian)
10 a.m. – Hep Long Jump (Harris, Poe, Campbell)
10:15 a.m. – Dec Discus (Christian)
11:45 p.m. – Dec Pole Vault (Christian)
Noon – Hep Javelin (Harris, Poe, Campbell)
12:15 p.m. – Men's Long Jump (
William Harris,
Donovan Ramirez)
1:30 p.m. Hep 800 (Harris, Poe, Campbell)
2:30 p.m. – Dec Javelin (Christian)
2:30 p.m. – Women's Shot Put FINAL (
Zoe Burleson)
3:15 p.m. – Women's Long Jump FINAL (
Ella Anttila, Kirk)
4 p.m. – Dec 1500 (Christian)
4:30 p.m. – Men's 110 Hurdles Prelim (January,
Jeremy King)
4:45 p.m. – Women's 100 Hurdles Prelim (
Paige Boucher)
5 p.m. – Men's Shot Put FINAL (
Nathanial Collier,
Athan Huelskamp)
5 p.m. – Men's 800 Prelim (
Cooper Goggans,
JP Trook)
5:15 p.m. – Women's 800 Prelim (Evans,
Riley Pyeatt)
5:30 p.m. – Men's 400 Prelim (Chaney, Mills, Williams)
5:45 p.m. – Women's 400 Prelim (
Ja'Dasia Sims,
Gracyn Reed,
Ja'Kaylon Sabbath, Walker)
6 p.m. – Men's 100 Prelim (Franklin,
William Harris, Marshall)
6:15 p.m. – Women's 100 Prelim (Foster, Smith)
7:30 p.m. – Men's 3000 Steeplechase FINAL (
Gabe Embree,
Maxwel Kiplagat)
7:45 p.m. – Women's 3000 Steeplechase FINAL (
Peyton Bornstein)
Saturday (ALL FINALS)
10 a.m. – Women's Discus (Burleson, Roskop)
Noon – Women's High Jump (Sims)
Noon – Men's Triple Jump (
William Harris, Ramirez)
1 p.m. – Men's Discus (Collier, Huelskamp)
1 p.m. – Men's Pole Vault (
Jacob Thomas)
3 p.m. – Women's Triple Jump (Anttila)
3:30 p.m. – Men's 400 Relay (Marshall, Franklin, January,
William Harris)
3:40 p.m. – Women's 400 Relay (Kirk, Sabbath, Smith, Walker, Foster)
3:50 p.m. – Men's 1500 (Helgerson)
4 p.m. – Women's Javelin (
Kaitlyn Callaway, Campbell,
Skylar Harris)
4 p.m. – Women's 1500 (Evans)
4:10 p.m. – Men's 110 Hurdles (January, King)
4:20 p.m. – Women's 100 Hurdles (Boucher)
4:30 p.m. – Men's 400 (Chaney, Mills, Williams)
4:40 p.m. – Women's 400 (Sims, Reed, Sabbath, Walker)
4:50 p.m. – Men's 100 (Franklin,
William Harris, Marshall)
4:55 p.m. – Women's 100 (Foster, Smith)
5 p.m. – Men's 800 (Goggans, Trook)
5:10 p.m. – Women's 800 (Evans, Pyeatt)
5:20 p.m. Men's 400 Hurdles (January)
5:30 p.m. – Women's 400 Hurdles (Latham)
5:40 p.m. – Men's 200 (Chaney, Franklin, Marshall, Mills, Williams)
5:50 p.m. – Women's 200 (Foster, Smith, Walker)
6 p.m. – Men's 5000 (Helgerson, Castruita)
6:20 p.m. – Women's 5000 (Bornstein, Rono)
6:40 p.m. – Men's 1600 Relay (Mills, Chaney, Williams, Goggans, January, Franklin, Marshall)
6:45 p.m. – Women's 1600 Relay (Latham, Walker, Sims, Smith, Pyeatt, Foster, Reed)
