ABILENE, Texas – Coming off an emotional championship victory last weekend at the American Southwest Conference Championships in Mississippi, the McMurry Track & Field program went right back to work this past Sunday at the ACU Last Chance Meet hosted at Abilene Christian's Elmer Gray Stadium.
McMurry recorded six new personal bests and also moved up the national leaderboard with a season-best time in the men's 4x100 relay. The War Hawks had 21 individuals compete on Sunday.
The competition mainly consisted of Abilene's three universities – McMurry, ACU and Hardin-Simmons, but also included a few athletes from the Texas Tech, North Texas, Harding, Odessa, Southwestern, Texas Wesleyan and Wayland Baptist.
In the latest USTFCCCA Top 25 ratings, the McMurry men's team moved back into the Top 25 as the No. 18 team. The War Hawks made the largest jump of any team, moving up 13 spots from last week.
RESULTS
Track Highlights:
- Freshman Najwa Campbell moved into the sub-15 second club in the 100 meter hurdles on Sunday, running a personal best time of 14.92 seconds. She now ranks 36th in the nation and places first in the event for a second straight week. After winning the ASC Championship in the event on May 1, she beat out ACU's Amy Amberlang and teammate Nandhi Brown for first on the podium yesterday.
- Freshman Dazhaun Walton entered the 200 meter dash with three teammates after winning the conference championship in the event and set a new personal record on Sunday. His time of 21.52 was good enough for sixth place. Walton now ranks 10th in the nation.
- Also setting a new personal record was fellow freshman Jamari Williams, running a 200 time of 21.90. He now ranks inside the national top 50 alongside Walton and sophomore Jayden Sloan in 20th (21.66 at the 2021 War Hawks Classic).
- Seniors Jacob Williams and Michael Limones ran in the men's 400 with times of 49.46 and 50.37. Williams is ranked 21st and Limones is ranked 33rd nationally, both setting their season-highs at the ASC Championship meet in under 49 seconds. Sloan did not compete in the event on Sunday, but remains atop the nation in the event at 47.20.
- The final race for McMurry was the men's 4x100 relay, where the team of Caleb Kwiatkowski, Jamari Williams, Jermond Lovely and Dazhaun Walton set a new season-best time of 41.51, edging Hardin-Simmons by 0.26 seconds. This McMurry team ranks 13th in the nation.
Field Highlights:
- Both of McMurry's top pole vaulters on Sunday hit personal records, as freshman Rylan Rogers eclipsed 4.53 meters for the first time in his young career. Relatively new to pole vaulting, versatile junior Kelby Tidwell also set a personal record of 3.26m on the women's side.
- Another multi-event athlete looking to add to her repertoire, sophomore Corbin Stulir set a new personal record in the hammer throw with a mark of 29.48m.
- The men also had a personal record in the hammer throw, as Jarrett Hart tossed a mark of 37.53m. Sutton Welch entered his first meet since winning the conference title in the hammer and finished with a mark of 43.48m – staying above 40 meters for the sixth straight time.
- Following conference titles last week, sophomore Ellie Ryan and junior Margo Mendoza competed. Mendoza only did the discus, throwing a 37.64m mark. Ryan competed in the discus, hammer and javelin and came closest to a PR in the hammer at 36.87m. Ryan remains ranked within the top 40 in the nation for the javelin.
- Back on the men's side in the pole vault, sophomore Jayden Gonzales cleared 4.38m for a solid day, but just missed out on a new personal record with three missed attempts at 4.53m.
- Senior Ethan Blocker ranks just inside the top 50 following a second place performance in the men's javelin at the conference meet. He competed again Sunday, falling a few meters short of that personal record with a mark of 45.88m. Zac Wood had a mark of 41.16m.
- Sophomore Garrett Arendall had a mark of 37.59m in the discus, only two meters shy of a personal record which he set at the conference meet.
Up Next:
The War Hawks are currently scheduled for one final meet before the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships – the Bison Twilight scheduled for May 13 in Searcy, Arkansas.
