ARLINGTON – Tarleton State Track and Field crowned a pair of WAC Champions and set four school records on the second day of the 2025 WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Maverick Stadium.
The Texans claimed both the men’s and women’s long jump champions during the field event during the morning and early afternoon session. Just after the conclusion of the women’s long jump and just before the men’s 400, the meet was put into a weather delay, that last over four hours. The events resumed at 8:30 p.m. with the final events of the day concluding around two hours later.
After two days of competition and with eight of the 21 total events scored, the Texan women rank second with 51 points. The Purple and White trail the current leader, Utha Valley who ended the night with 92 total points. On the men’s side, the Texans rank third with 36 points. The squad trails UT Arlington (45 points) and Utah Valley (83 points).
Lokesh Sathyanathan became the first WAC Champion for the Texans on Friday afternoon. Sathyanathan increased his leap on each of his first four jumps before passing his final two of the competition. After a 7.48-meter leap on his first attempt, Sathyanathan posted the three best jumps of the day in succession (7.78, 7.80 and 7.81 meters). His fourth jump of 7.81 meters gave him his second title in the WAC long jump with his first coming at the 2025 Indoor Championships. Sathyanathan now ranks second in school history with his best wind-legal jump of 7.81 meters, despite holding the school all-conditions record and is the NCAA Division I leader with an 8.14-meter leap.
The Texans posted three of the top five performers in the long jump along with Sathyanathan. Sir Jonathan Sims earned silver with a best leap of 7.50 meters. He posted his best marks at a conference championship in his career. Gabriele Tosti rounded out the jumps squad with a fifth-place performance after not reaching the fields in the event a year ago. Tosti posted a pair of 7.13-meter leaps on his final two attempts to claim fifth. Tosti had his mother and brother in the stands to cheer him on on U.S. soil for the first time in his collegiate career.
Prestina Ochonogor made a statement on her first jump of the day. The freshman leapt 6.67 meters to tie the WAC Championship meet record. The 2024 Paris Olympian posted a pair of 6.67-meter leaps on her first two attempts to easily claim the title. Ochonogor’s 6.67-meter leap broke her school record she set earlier in the season at the Texas Relays. The freshman claimed her second WAC long jump title after earning the distinction at the indoor championships as well.
Sofia DeGroot and Mackenzie Hill each added Second Team All-WAC performances in the long jump as well. DeGroot claimed fourth while setting a new personal best of 6.08 meters. The sophomore improved to the third best jump in program history. Hill posted a 5.97-meter leap in her first conference meet. The freshman’s new personal record ranks fifth in program history. Amelie Monzie posted the ninth best mark in program history with a 5.77-meter jump in the preliminaries.
After a silver medalist performance in the hammer throw on the first day, Tayler Wessely closed out her first WAC Outdoor Championships with another silver medal in the shot put. Wessely set a new personal best on each of her three scored throws. Her first toss of 13.31 meters was her first throw over 13 meters this season. She one-upped herself on her next attempt by two centimeters to set a new best of 13.33 meters. On her final attempt, she posted a 14.08-meter toss to claim second in the event. The junior now ranks second in program history in the shot put.
Kaitlyn Gale earned a silver medal in the 3000 steeplechase while setting a school record. Gale held the second slot for almost the entire race and finished just four seconds behind the WAC champion. Gale crossed in 10:44.59 to break the previous program record by over three seconds. The freshman earned her first medalist honors at the conference championships in the final event of Friday night.
Ella Smart posted a sixth-place finish in the steeplechase in just her second race collegiately in the event. Smart bested her personal best by over 27 seconds and ranks sixth in program history crossing in 11:23.42.
Mason Hill posted the third-best shot put throw in program history. He posted a 17.31-meter toss to overtake current throws coach James Dearth’s personal best of 16.91 meters in 1998. After beginning the shot put before the weather delay, in his final four throws of the night after the rain delay, Hill finished in third overall to earn the bronze medal and score six points for the Texan men.
Malak Rashwan battled for a fifth-place performance in the heptathlon in the grueling two-day event. Rashwan posted a strong performance on the first day entering in second place. The freshman from Egypt leapt 5.51 meters in the long jump to open the second day. In the final field event she posted a 34.40-meter throw in the javelin. In the final event of the competition, she ran 2:38.97 in the 800 meters. Rashwan finished with 4893 points to set a new personal best and improve her third-best score in program history.
In the 400-meter preliminaries, Hanna Dudley set the new school record in 44.06 seconds. Dudley broke her own record by .12 seconds, which she set earlier this season. The senior posted the top qualifying time ahead of Saturday’s finals. Taylor McFarland ran a personal best and improved her second best time in program history clocking in at 44.16 seconds. The junior was the second-fastest in the prelims only to her teammate.
Kellen Frickel set the new school record in the 3000-meter steeplechase in the final men’s event of the night. Frickel shattered the previous record set by Westyn Rosiles in 2010 by over six seconds. The sophomore clocked in at 9:22.03, just missing a spot on the podium to finish ninth overall.
Two men qualified for Saturday’s final in the 100 meters. Reid Vincent ran the second-fastest time, clocking in at 10.52 seconds to win his heat. David Mvundura finished sixth in the prelims crossing in 10.69 seconds. The duo will represent the Texans in tomorrow’s 100-meter finals.
Four Texans women punched their ticket to the 100-meter finals. Victoria Cameron led the pack with the best qualifying time of 11.41 seconds. Lauren Roy finished closely behind with the second-best time in 11.53 seconds. Prestina Ochonogor clinched a berth tying with Amandine Estival for seventh crossing in 11.90 seconds. The quartet will look to score valuable points for the Texans in Saturday’s final.
Saturday will feature all finals with 15 on the men’s side and 13 on the women’s side. Due to expected bad weather, the field events were moved up an hour to start at 10 a.m. and the track events were moved up two hours for a 2 p.m. schedule start time. The meet will be streamed starting at 2 p.m. when the track events are slated to start.
Be the first to comment