Meet Results / WT Performance Chart
 
Photo Gallery (Courtesy of Brian Barrett)
 
CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M men's and women's track & field teams had themselves a huge day on Saturday in the closing of the 2015 West Texas A&M Classic & Multi as the No. 10 Lady Buffs and No. 11 Buffs picked up team sweeps by no small margins of victory. In the process WT rolled to 13 new or improved provisional marks and one improved automatic qualifying mark, five new facility records, five new school records, and 14 event victories.
 
Ten total facility records were broken on Saturday alone at the WTAMU Track & Field Complex. Five of those records were set by WT athletes.
 
As a team, the Lady Buffs took the win with 209 points. Rounding out the top-five were Wayland Baptist in second (112 points), Adams State in third (109 points), Eastern New Mexico in fourth (61 points), and McMurry & Western State-Colorado tied in fifth (55 points). For the men, the Buffs rolled to 235 total team points, followed by WBU in second (121 points), ASU in third (94 points), WSCU in fourth (79 points), and McMurry in fifth (74 points).
 
"I'm so excited about the way the meet went this weekend," said head coach Darren Flowers. "This was one of the best meets we've had here and I'm so grateful for all of the WT support staff that work so hard to put these events on. All their hard work ultimately leads to a great student-athlete experience. When the student-athlete has a great experience, it typically leads to outstanding performances and that's what we got. I'm excited about where we are and where we are headed."
 
The combined events resumed on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. Finishing up first was the women's heptathlon, which was won by sophomore Sarah Climer. She set a new PR with a score of 4,209 points. Following was sophomore Morgan Seawright in third (4,034 points) and junior Trianna McCalister in fourth place (3,889 points) who both competed in the heptathlon for the first time in their collegiate careers.
 
The Buffs stole the day in the decathlon, going first through third in the event, with two freshmen taking top-two honors. Freshman Coalson Brown took the crown with 5,437 points. He was followed by fellow freshman JR Sullivan in second (5,381 points) and senior Dustin Dickson in third (5,314 points).
 
Over 300 athletes competed in the meet this weekend. Participating teams included Adams State (M&W), Clarendon College (M&W), Eastern New Mexico (M&W), Elite One (M), Lubbock Christian (M&W), McMurry (M&W), Midwestern State (W), New Mexico Junior College (W), New Mexico Military Institute (W), Odessa College (M&W), Papua New Guinea Track (M&W), Southwestern Oklahoma State (W), Texas Wesleyan (M&W), Wayland Baptist (M&W), WTAMU (M&W), West, Texas Track Club (M), Western State (M&W).
 
Sophomore Holly Cunigan started off open field events Saturday with a bang as she broke the school and facility record in women's shot put, throwing an improved provisional mark of 15.01m. For the men's side of the shot put, junior Zach Weatherly increased his provisional to 17.35m, grabbing the event title. He would roll to two more event wins later in the day in discus and hammer throw, taking the discus title with a toss of 50.23m before throwing a new school record 52.75m in hammer throw.
 
The Buffs and Lady Buffs would both win in the long jump competitions. It was highlighted by junior Paul Alongo who took the men's title with a 7.64m jump, breaking the school and facility record and increasing his provisional mark, just one centimeter from auto. Junior Libby Strickland did so on the women's side, winning with a 5.74m jump. Right after, freshman Brandon Leitch would take the title in the men's javelin field, throwing 54.72m.
 
Starting on the track Saturday, the men's 4x100m relay team dropped a facility record with a 40.50 time, increasing WT's provisional in the event. That squad consisted of Kemarki Absalom, Tommy Curry, Lorenzo Johnson and Jerell Banks.
 
In hurdles events, WT took titles in the 100m and 110m runnings. Both Johnson and Sharon Kwarula did so with new school and facility records which now lead the nation each. Johnson took the men's side with a 13.74 time in the 110mH, increasing his automatic qualifier. Also earning provisionals in the men's 110mH were freshmen Vance O'Rear (second, 14.32) and Trevor Greenfield (third, 14.53). Kwarula improved her provisional to 13.51 in the 110mH and would go on to earn another first place finish in the 400mH with an increased provisional time of 1:00.18.
 
In the 100m, junior Shanice Cameron would have broken a school record in the first heat but was unfortunately assisted by a 5.4 on the wind meter (only 4.0 and below are acceptable for qualifying and record purposes). Junior Bri Leeper; however, was able to earn a provisional time in the second heat with an 11.93 time, good for sixth overall. Both Cameron and Leeper would come back strong with provisional times in the 200m later in the afternoon. Cameron placed second with a time of 24.05 and Leeper fourth at 24.35.
 
Finishing off the evening was the women's 4x400m relay team which recorded a provisional as well, placing second overall. Running 3:47.41 on the day was the squad consisting of Cameron, Kaitlin Rodriguez, Strickland, and Sommer Wilder.
 
Additional top-eight finishes for the Buffs on the final day included Joseph Boyd (fourth, shot put/second, hammer throw), Duke Kicinski (sixth, shot put/second, discus), Trevor Dennis (eighth, 400m/seventh, 200m), Jacob Norris (fifth, 110mH/second, 400mH), 4x100m team in third place (Fabian Mueller, O'Rear, Dennis, Greenfield), Johnson (third, 100m), Mueller (fourth, 100m), Absalom (fifth, 100m), Damien Bourguin (third, 800m), Armando Rueda (sixth, 800m), Casey Lantelme (fifth, discus & hammer throw), Jon Ferrin (eighth, discus/sixth, hammer throw), Hayden Everitt (sixth, 400mH), Banks (fifth, 200m), and Ty Pugh (second, triple jump).
 
Also placing in the top-eight for the Lady Buffs on Saturday were Bailey Trimmell (third, shot put), Abby Tieken (sixth, shot put), Strickland (third, high jump/fifth, 100m/seventh, 200m),  Wilder (third, 400m), Rodriguez (second, 1500m section B), 4x100m team in second (Jasmine Walker, Bri Leeper, Strickland, Shanice Cameron), 4x100m team in third (Jasmine Pitts, Lyric Jackson, Wilder, McCalister), Haily Berry (second, long jump/fourth, triple jump), Malika Ouedraogo (fifth, long jump), Seawright (eighth, long jump), Courtney Head (second, discus/eighth, hammer throw), Cunigan (fourth, discus/sixth, hammer throw), Cameron (fourth, 100m), Leeper (sixth, 100m), Brittany Mitchell (fifth, 800m), Marion Gatignol (second, triple jump), and Jasmine Pitts (eighth, 200m).
 
Friday Recap
 
Junior Mireia Guarner won her event in the women's 1500m fast heat on Friday night as the No. 10 Lady Buffs and No. 11 Buffs began the West Texas A&M Classic, WT's first home event of the 2015 season. Only four open events were finalized on Friday at WTAMU Track & Field Complex in Canyon.
 
The combined events opened up their first half on Friday afternoon with the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon. Brown led the men's side after five events, scoring 3,118 points. Following him was Sullivan in third place with 2,956 points and Dickson who sat in sixth with 2,843 points.
 
For the heptathlon, Climer finished day one in second after four events with 2,691 points. She was followed by McCalister in third with 2,575 points and Seawright in fifth with 2,550 points.
 
Following the multis were the 1500m races. Guarner would win her side while senior Michaela Johnson would place seventh. Brandon Rivera, Miguel Mendez, and Michael Barnet would finish fourth through sixth, respectively, for the men. Finishing off the night in the men's 3000m steeple chase was sophomore Matthew Schleder who placed third with huge PR of 10:20.27.
 
WT will be back in action next weekend for an extremely busy schedule as athletes branch off between four meets. Select individuals will travel to the West Coast to compete in the Mt. SAC Relays, Beach Invitational (Long Beach State), and Bryan Clay Invitational (Azusa Pacific). Others will take the trip to New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs, N.M. Additional information on the meets will be available in the days leading up to the events next week on www.GoBuffsGo.com. Be sure to follow @WTAMUTrackXC for more updates.
 
WTAMU Track & Field Complex Records Broken
 
Men
 
4x100m – Kemarki Absalom, Tommy Curry, Lorenzo Johnson & Jerell Banks (West Texas A&M) – 40.50
Pole Vault – Noah Zorsky (Western State) – 5.35m
110mH – Lorenzo Johnson (West Texas A&M) – 13.70 (w2.2)
Long Jump – Paul Alongo (West Texas A&M) – 7.64m (w2.9)
 
Women
 
Shot Put – Holly Cunigan (West Texas A&M) – 15.01m
High Jump – Kelsey Shannon (New Mexico Junior College) – 1.74m
4x100m – Kelsey Gittens, Alexis Browner, Gregria Higgs & Rochene Smith (Wayland Baptist) – 45.17
100mH – Sharon Kwarula (West Texas A&M) – 13.51 (w3.9)
Hammer Throw – Mikaela Hoelsken (Adams State) – 55.65m
Pole Vault – Lacy Harris (unattached) – 3.90m