Tarleton opens strong on day one at nationals

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Courtesy Tarleton Athletic Communications

SPECIAL TO THE FLASH

TarletonSports.com

BRADENTON, Florida – Tarleton opened up the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships by having three individuals and the TexAnn sprint relay team qualify for the finals in their events.

“Today was a good day,” said head coach Pat Ponder. “I’m really proud of our athletes today. Now we need to rehydrate and get some rest. I hope this momentum carries into tomorrow.”

The women’s 4×100-meter relay of Deylinn Garrett, Ariel Ballard, Hollie Boyd, and DeAijha Hicks-Boyce finished second in their heat and fifth overall in a school-record time of 45.79 to advance to Saturday’s finals at 5:10 p.m. ET. The squad topped the old school mark of 45.91 set in 2015.


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Hicks-Boyce also ran the 100-meter dash and qualified for the finals in that event with a time of 11.72, which ranks second in her heat and fourth overall. Hicks-Boyce will run the 100m finals on Saturday at 6:45 p.m. ET.

In the men’s 1500-meter, both Dylan Willett and Chase Rathke qualified for the finals. Willett finished in 3:50.37 and got seventh in his heat and ranks seventh overall while Rathke won his heat in 3:53.79. The distance duo will run at 5:35 p.m. ET in Saturday’s finals.

Randall Kadlacek competed in the 400-meter hurdles and finished in 56.28 for 19th place. The top eight advanced to the finals. Kadlacek, a silver medalist in the event at the LSC Championships, had a season-best time of 52.49.

Tarleton is competing in five events on Friday starting with Rascellis Williams in the high jump finals and four preliminary events: Hicks-Boyce in the 200m, Dalton Stidham in the 110m hurdles and the men’s and women’s 4×400-meter relays.


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