MEET NOTES
CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M opens the outdoor season on Friday, March 19, when they host the WT Spring Break Classic at the Track & Field Complex in Canyon.
The meet program and schedule can be found
HERE.
MEET PREVIEW
Friday will see
Valda Kabia,
Madison Thetford and
Nele Heinrich return to the track after seeing last year's outdoor season canceled due to COVID-19 protocol. Kabia will run the 100-meter dash with Thetford scheduled to compete in the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles. Heinrich has the fastest time in the 400-meters and will also run a leg on the 4x400-meter relay.
Raquel Chavez will compete in the 800-meters while
Seselia Dala will make her debut in Maroon & White in the 1,500-meters. The senior will also run the 5,000-meters along with teammates
Nyia Sena and
Daphne Pate.
Zada Swoopes will compete in the shot put, discus and weight throw less than a week removed from her national title in the shot put at the indoor championships.
Ajah Wilson is also slated to compete in the hammer throw.
On the men's side,
Ezekiel Kipchirchir,
Noah Bundrock and
Innocent Murwanashyaka will battle in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Kipchirchir ran 9:12.07 in 2019, just missing out on the facility record set by former Buff
Dylan Doss.
Emmanuel Too,
Daniel Haymes,
Calvin Allen and
Ahmed Omer are scheduled to run the 1,500-meters. Evan Tuitock of Texas Tech holds the facility record after running 3:50.32 in 2014.
Jahmaal Wilson and
Tyrin Lewis will compete in the 110-meter hurdles after earning All-American honors last week. Wilson will also make his debut in the 400m hurdles.
Dhanushka Sandaruwan will finally compete for the Buffs outdoors in the long jump. Mahmaoud Massoud will also make his outdoor debut for the Buffs in the discus.
IMPRESSIVE WAY TO FINISH THE INDOOR SEASON
The Buffs and Lady Buffs finished third at the NCAA Division II indoor Track & Field Championships last week in Birmingham, Ala.
The Lady Buffs finished on the podium for the first since winning the National Championship in 2018.
Florance Uwajeneza finished 2nd in the 5,000-meters and 4th in the 3,000-meters while also anchoring the distance medley relay to a 9th place finish.
Zada Swoopes won the national title in the shot put with the fifth best throw in NCAA DII history. The mark also broke her own Lone Star Conference and school record.
Taylor Nelloms also won the title in the triple jump with the third-best mark in NCAA DII history with a jump of 42-4.75 (12.92m).
Flore Gracia and
Miriam Zanovello also finished in the Top 8 in the event.
The men finished on the podium for the first time as
Benjamin Azamati scored 16 points to became the first Buff to win an individual National Championship indoors. No one was close to the sophomore in the 60-meter dash as he ran 6.60 to win by .13. He also finished third in the 200-meters with the third-fastest time in program history, 21.00.
Desmond Aryee also picked up All-American honors in the 60m dash.
Butare Rugenerwa and
Arnaud Taki ran the second and third-fastest times in program history in the 800-meters as they finished 3rd and 5th.
Peniel Richard also finished third in triple jump with Lewis and Wilson picking up All-American honors in the 60-meter hurdles.
UP NEXT
WT heads to the Texas Relays in Austin on March 24-27 before hosting the Jo Meaker Classic & Multi on April 2-3.
