Meet Results / WT Performance Chart
 
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Coach Flowers Post Meet Interview
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The final day of the 2015 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field National Championship sent the West Texas A&M No. 21 Lady Buffs and No. 23 Buffs off in style as WT racked up the individual awards and raced to best-ever finishes in the team standings. Five athletes made their way to the All-America podium in six different events, featuring two top-three finishers and four top-four finishers. The Lady Buffs finished the meet tied for 14^th while the Buffs ended the competition tied for 22^nd, both the best indoor team finishes in program history.
 
Junior Libby Strickland led the way with two All-America trophies in the pentathlon and high jump, grabbing the first and the last for WT on Saturday and increasing her career total to seven. Senior Sharon Kwarula and junior Lorenzo Johnson would make the podium both with third-place finishes in the women's and men's 60m hurdles, respectively. Sophomore Malika Ouedraogo earned her second-straight All-America distinction in the women's triple jump, placing fourth this time while senior Baptiste Moreu earned a fourth place finish as well in the men's mile.
 
The Lady Buffs would finish 14^th with a total of 16 points while the Buffs placed 22^nd totaling 11 points as a team.
 
"I'm really excited about the way we performed today," noted head coach Darren Flowers. "The competition was extremely tough but we had some great individual successes out there. It seems to be getting tougher at the Division II level each year. I'm really proud of this group, how they came together and supported each other."
 
The meet was held at the Birmingham CrossPlex, one of the premier indoor track & field facilities in the nation. Ten Buffs and Lady Buffs made the trip to compete in 11 events.
 
Strickland started off strong in the combined events early Saturday morning with a huge PR in the 60m hurdles, one of her weaker events in the multi. She ran a 9.15, a big improvement from her previous best of 9.41. She would move on to one of her best events from there, the high jump, and finish second in the field after clearing 1.72m. Her second PR came in the shot put where she threw for 10.62m which was followed by a fifth place long jump finish with a mark of 5.55m. Strickland then raced to a new best 2:20.75 in the 800m, also fifth, to climb to the highest spot on the podium she has been in her now seven trips. The fifth place overall finish in the pentathlon came from 3,856 points, breaking her own school record score.
 
After fouling her first two attempts while using a new shot put in the first open event of the day, sophomore Holly Cunigan had a clutch throw in her third attempt of flight two with a 14.33m mark. That would just get her into the finals where she finished, coming just one place shy of the podium. She finished an impressive ninth in the nation after her breakout season.
 
WT really picked up some points in the 60m hurdles finals as both Johnson and Kwarula raced to third place finishes each. Kwarula did so first on the women's side as she finished with a time of 8.47. Moments later, Johnson rolled to an identical finish with a time of 7.86. Johnson's third place national showing was the highest ever for a male athlete in the program. Next on the track was Moreu who after topping the field in the prelims yesterday, finished fourth overall today with a time of 4:10.58, picking up All-America honors.
 
Ouedraogo then competed in the triple jump and made a return trip to the podium in fourth place overall after clearing a mark of 12.73m. She was the national runner-up a year ago in Winston-Salem, N.C. Strickland would then close out the day for WT in the high jump competition where like the 2014 outdoor season, finished in a three-way tie for seventh place, picking up her second piece of All-America hardware of the day and seventh of her career.
 
Day One Recap (Friday)
 
The Buffs and Lady Buffs had a solid day on the track in what featured mainly preliminary events on Friday. Kwarula, Moreu, and Lorenzo Johnson would roll to earn berths in the finals which take place Saturday.
 
Starting the competition off for WT was Kwarula in the women's 60m hurdles. Kwarula, an All-American during the 2014 outdoor season in the 400m hurdles, set herself up very nicely in the prelims on Friday. She cruised to break her own school and Lone Star Conference record in the event, running a time of 8.46. That would finish her third overall and second in heat one, advancing her on to Saturday's finals.
 
On the men's side of the 60m hurdles, Johnson did not have quite the start he wanted in the prelims but he will still move on to the finals tomorrow with a time of 7.94. Coming in to the championship as the three-seed nationally, he placed sixth overall on the opening day. Also representing WT in the event was senior Arnau Erta, an outdoor All-American hurdler. Erta finished 10^th overall in the prelims with a time of 8.08.
 
Next on the track and wrapping up day one for the Lady Buffs was junior Shanice Cameron who was a late addition to the women's 60m dash field after another athlete scratched on Wednesday morning. Cameron would cross the line with a 7.91 time, finishing 18^th in the country.
 
Moreu had an excellent opening race in the men's mile prelims. After a slow first heat, Moreu topped the second heat and the overall pack, finishing first with a time of 4:08.11. He earned the automatic qualifier into tomorrow's finals of nine athletes.
 
In the only final event of the first day, senior Kemarki Absalom would just barely miss the final cut in the men's long jump competition. He leaped to a 10^th place finish off a 7.07m (23'-2.25") jump. That would put him just .01m away from the top-nine which advanced to finals. Then finishing up the day was senior Tommy Curry in the men's 200m prelims. He finished 11^th overall with a time of 21.78.
 
SCORING: In the championships meet regardless of the number of teams, official team scores shall be kept and recorded as follows: (8 scoring) Individual Events: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1, Relay Events: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. All-America distinction will be awarded to all individuals and members of relays who place in the top-eight of each event.
 
NEXT UP: There will not be much time to rest for WT track & field as the Buffs and Lady Buffs will begin the outdoor season next weekend. They open up their campaigns again at the WarHawk Classic, hosted by McMurry on Friday, March 20.