AUSTIN, Texas – The West Texas A&M No. 11 women's and men's track & field programs put the finishing touches to a historic weekend Saturday afternoon where they registered four automatic qualifying marks, 11 provisional marks, two school records and one freshman record over three days of competition at four different meets. Some notable performances from Saturday's competition were Norma Cunigan in the discus at the 90th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays and Fatim Affessi in the triple jump at the Bobcat Invitational.
"Overall, I would say this weekend was a huge success for our program," said WT head coach Darren Flowers. "Some of our athletes competed against some of the best and the nation and held their own. We knew heading into the weekend that our athletes could do some special things. I am happy with how our athletes represented WT and I am excited to see how we progress in the next few weeks."
WT will return home where they will host the WT Classic & Multi at the WTAMU Track & Field Complex next Friday and Saturday, April 7-8. A full meet schedule can be found under the men's/women's track & field schedule page at GoBuffsGo.com.
TEXAS RELAYS
Meet Results | WT Results | Friday Recap | Thursday Recap
Sophomore All-American Norma Cunigan finished fourth in the discus in a competitive field that contained some of the top throwers in all of Division I and II. The Wills Point, Texas native didn't let the competition affect her as she broke her own school record on her second attempt with a mark of 53.45 meters (175-4). She now owns the top five marks in school history in the event.
Cunigan also had a strong performance in the shot put where she finished ninth in another competitive field. She had her best throw on her third attempt where it was marked at 14.73 meters (48-4) which is the ninth-best mark in school history.
Rellie Kaputin picked up third qualifying mark of the weekend, this time in the long jump where she finished ninth overall. Her best mark of 6.04 meters (19-9.75) came on her third attempt of the competition as she was the only non-DI athlete to qualify for the final.
The quartet of Morgan Aurich, Nikolina Hrelec, Sierra Spinler and Kaitlin Rodriguez ran a school record in the women's 4x800-meter relay finishing eighth in 9:14.24.
BOBCAT INVITATIONAL
Meet Results | WT Results | Friday Recap
Fatim Affessi had a career day at the Bobcat Invitational where she won the triple jump in a record breaking performance and ran a leg on the 4x100-meter relay that ran a provisional time. The Switzerland native broke the freshman record and earned an automatic qualifier in the triple jump with a mark of 12.84 meters (42-1.5) on her first attempt. That is also the second-best mark in school history only behind the 12.98 (42-7) that Rellie Kaputin jumped yesterday at the Texas Relays.
The freshman also had a good day on the track as she joined Kennedy Hudson, Jasmine Pitts and Shanice Cameron on the 4x100-meter relay that won in a provisional time of 46.14.
Victoria Rausch had a great day in the 100-meter hurdles where she finished sixth coming within .04 seconds of running a personal best. The sophomore improved on the 14.24 that she ran at the Texas Relays on Friday by running 14.01 to finish fifth in her heat. Madison Thetford nearly ran a personal best for the second day in a row as the Amarillo, Texas native finished 15th in 14.43. Tobia Lahbi and Jacob Norris competed in the 110-meter hurdles for the Buffs where they finished seventh and eighth respectively. Lahbi ran a seasonal-best 14.74 while Norris was right behind him in 14.75.
Steven Cooper was the top finisher for the Buffs in the 200-meters as the Las Vegas, Nevada native finished eighth in 21.52. Todd Handley finished 19 running a seasonal best time of 21.89 while Lachie Calvert ran a personal best time of 22.73. Nele Heinrich ran a personal best time of 25.68 in the 200m to finish 61st overall while Sommer Wilder ran 26.76 in the same event.
DON KIRBY TAILWIND INVITATIONAL
Meet Results | WT Results
Tough conditions plagued WT in Albuquerque as only a handful of athletes were allowed to compete as meet officials cancelled the pole vault, high jump and triple jump. Among the athletes that did compete, Terrell Sims, Tanner Stone and Paolo Lazaric all picked up top five finishes in their respective events.
Sims finished second in the long jump with a leap of 6.80 meters (22-3.75) while Ty Pugh finished sixth with a mark of 6.30 meters (20-8). Lazaric finished fourth in the javelin with a thorw f 40.13 meters (131-8).
Tanner Stone finished fifth in the shot put (13.89m / 45-7) while fellow freshman Tyler Pickens was sixth with a mark of 13.83 meters (45-4.5).
