A large portion of the Wildcat T&F team went to Lubbock to compete in the Red Raider Open at the Sports Performance Center on the Texas Tech University campus this past Friday. The Red Raiders, coached by ACU alum Wes Kittley, are the defending NCAA Division 1 Men's indoor. champions. The Red Raider women were 15 th in the national indoor meet last year.
The field was very strong at the meet and included the University of Southern California (7 th in the men's indoor championship and 8 th in the women's championship); and Virginia Tech (12 th in the men's team race at nationals). Other teams that attended included the University of Oklahoma, Kansas State University, Sam Houston State, and University of North Texas; plus NCAA Division 2 powerhouse West Texas A&M and Lubbock Christian University. Perennial top- 10 team LSU was supposed to be in the meet, but in a rarity, they were unable to fly out of Baton Rouge due to snow closing the airport.
The highlight of the meet for ACU came from sophomore
Miguel Hall, who made the finals in the 60 meter hurdles in a field containing numerous All-America hurdlers. In the finals, Miguel placed 7 th and his time of 7.98 was not only a huge personal best (PB), but moved him to #6 on the all-time Wildcat list. Other Wildcat highlights included:
- Cooper Goggans placed fifth in the 600 yard run in a time of 1:09.02
- In the 60 hurdles event where Miguel Hall set the school record, Canaan Fairley placed 11 th in a time of 8.14, just .02 off his PB and Kenan Reil ran a new PB time of 8.16.
- In a strong field where the winner of the women's 800 set a new Texas Tech school record, Jess Reyes place 9 th in a big PB time of 2:17.62 and freshman Emma Santoro placed 10 th just behind Jess in a time of 2:17.65
- The men's mile saw 2 ACU freshmen kick off their ACU T&F career with strong efforts as Vincent Luffey finished 4 th in a time of 4:14.31 and Mark Barajas placed 7 th with a time of 4:19.28.
- In the men's 3000 meter run, Wildcat freshman Carlos Cortez placed 6 th in a time of 8:49.21; Samuel Lanham placed 8 th in a PB time of 8:50.52 and Zach Martin placed 9 th in a PB time of 8:56.80.
- Sprinter Horatio Brooks long jumped for the first time since his freshman year in HS and picked up a 10 th place finish with a jump of 22-8/6.91m.
- The men's 4x400 relay ran a time of 3:14.20 in placing 7 th – the best time for the ACU men indoors since 2020. The relay was comprised of Kenan Reil, Cooper Goggans, transfer Landon Gary, and Migual Hall.
- The women's 4x400 "B" relay – made up primarily of 800 meter runners placed 8 th in a time of 3:52.46. The members of the relay were Jalyn Childers, Gracee Whitaker, Jess Reyes, and Emma Santoro.
Athletes competing in their first T&F meet for ACU included:
Laya'Lapri Ratney,
Aaralyn Strambler,
Jalyn Childers,
Emma Santoro, Gracee Whitaker,
Charley Hamilton,
Audrey Chitwood,
Hannah Kasper,
Madison Anderson,
Kennadi Payne,
Nele Huth,
Sterling Glenn (a redshirt in 2024) and
Mariana Van Dyk from the women;'s team. For the men, newcomers included transfer
Landon Gary,
Mark Barajas,
Vincent Luffey,
Carlos Cortez, Colin McCrillis, and
Brady Rygaard.
A small group of ACU runners went to Lubbock the previous weekend for the Corky Classic and the highlight was freshman
Andruw Villa placing 6 th in the 3000 meter run in a time of 8:27.43, debuting for ACU T&F with the 6 th best time in ACU history. The next meet for the Wildcats will see a return to Lubbock for the Texas Tech Open and Multis, which will occur next Thursday-Saturday, January 30-February 1.
