DENTON – Tarleton State Track and Field claimed an individual and relay title in a cold and rainy day at the Bill Schmidt Invite hosted by North Texas at the Soccer and Track & Field Stadium.
The meet started on a two-hour track delay and three-hour delay for field events. The rain continued early in the day, with cold weather heading into the afternoon. The cold got the best of many athletes by the end of the meet with many teams pulling their runners in the final sprints, jumps and throws competitions.
Overall, the Texans captured an individual title in the 3000 steeplechase and a team relay title in the 4×100 on the women’s side. The squad also added eight top three finishes and three new top 10 performance bests.
Freshman Kaitlyn Gale won her second 3000 Steeplechase in as many tries to start the season. Gale kicked off the meet taking home the individual title in 11:07.39.
The Texan women’s 4×100 relay posted the second-best mark in school history while winning the event. Tarleton State’s squad of Hanna Dudley, Victoria Cameron, Amandine Estival and Lauren Roy crossed in 45.21 seconds to claim the crown. The quartet beat TCU’s squad by over a second.
Jacob Thomas earned second place in the men’s pole vault. Thomas was the only vaulter to clear the 4.75-meter height on the first attempt. The Taft, Texas, native trailed only a single vaulter who entered the competition two heights later.
Sage Lancaster also earned second in the 1500 in the afternoon session of the meet. The senior polished off an impressive second lap to wrap up the second slot by almost ten seconds. Lancaster crossed in 4:37.62, just a few seconds off her personal best and second-best mark in school history of 4:35.53.
Kassidy Kirkpatrick posted a third-place performance in the high jump. The sophomore from Granbury, Texas, cleared a pair of heights on her first attempt. Kirkpatrick’s final clearance of 1.60 meters was cleared by a trio of athletes, but Kirkpatrick was the only without a miss granting her third overall behind a pair of jumpers that entered the competition at a later height.
Nathan Franco crossed in third in the 110 hurdles in 14.41 seconds. Franco was the second-fastest collegian and the fastest D1 athlete in the race trailing only a professional and a UT-Tyler athlete.
Amelie Monzie posted a third-place performance in the long jump. Her best leap on the day of 5.72 meters came on her third attempt. With a wind of +2.8 meters per second, her jump was not wind-legal but would have ranked ninth in program history.
The freshman tandem of Kebede Kerlin and Toby Eaton finished 3-4 in the men’s 1500, separated by a few hundredths of a second. Kerlin crossed in 4:01.32 to earn third immediately followed by Eaton who turned in a 4:01.60 finish.
Cameron and Estival posted the best time in the 100-meter dash prelims. The duo each won their own heat with Camron crossing in 11.22 and Estival in 11.66. Cameron’s 11.22 is in her second-best time in all conditions, with the win at 2.5 meters per second. Neither competed in the finals later in the day.
On the men’s side of the 100-meter dash, Reid Vincent posted the second-best qualifying time overall and the fastest by a current collegian. Vincent’s preliminary time of 10.46 seconds is a top 10 performance in school history in all conditions, but the wind of 3.6 meters per second is above the allowed amount for the top performance list. Vincent did not compete in the finals.
Kellen Frickel notched a fourth-place performance in the 3000-meter steeplechase in the second event of the morning. Frickel posted the ninth best time in school history in his steeplechase debut. The sophomore clocked in at 10:01.59.
Mason Hill posted the ninth best personal record in program history in his collegiate debut in the hammer throw. The sophomore’s best toss of 42.05 meters came on his third attempt.
Tarleton State will have an off weekend next week, before gearing up for its final three regular season meets on back-to-back weekends. The Texans will be back in action on April 18-19 at Baylor for the Michael Johnson Invitational.
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