EMPORIA, KS- West Texas A&M Track and Field had a successful first day at the NCAA Divison II Outdoor National Championships with two individual national champions crowned, one national runner-up, one broken school record and six qualifiers for final races.
The Buffs have a four point team score lead for first place at 18 points with Harding right behind with 14 points. Azuza Pacific and Missouri Southern are tied for third with 10 points each. The Lady Buffs are in a four way tie for fourth with ten points. Pittsburg State is in first with 23 points with Indianapolis in second (14 pts) and Findlay in third (11.5 pts).
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Florance Uwajeneza and
William Amponsah lived up to their hype of holding down the national leaderboard for most of the season in the 10,000m event. Both Uwajeneza and Amponsah earned their second individual national champion title tonight with wins in the men's and women's 10,000m race. This was after a weather delay which inhibitated the starting time by over an hour with Amponsah running at 9:30 p.m. and Uwajeneza at 10:05 p.m.
Amponsah ran the 25 lap, 10,000m race in 29 minutes flat. He lapped all but six runners in the national competition. This is Amponsahs' second individual national championship win after earning WT Cross Country's first individual champion win in the fall. During the cross country season Amponsah had won six for six races going undefeated. At this time, Amponsah is a four-time All-American and two time national champion in his first year competing for West Texas A&M.
Uwajeneza set a new Francis G. Welch facility record in 34 minutes, 14 seconds to take first place. This is her second individual national championship win after earning the indoor 5,000m win earlier this year in Pittsburg. Uwajeneza had a tactical race by keeping with the front group of about ten runners up until eight laps left. At that time a group of six runners took a 15 yard lead then with four laps there were only three left, Uwajeneza, Annika Esvelt of Seattle Pacific and Brianna Robles of Adams State. Uwajeneza finished the last two laps in a near sprint to the finish to break away over 10 yards from second place, Esvelt.
NATIONAL RUNNER-UP
Joseph Oreva has his best national championship finish in second place in the long jump. Oreva jumped 7.93m (26' 0.25") or equivalent to jumping over two parked cars that are bumper to bumper. Oreva set a new school record in the event over alum, Dhanushka Sandaruwan, who jumped 7.84m in 2021. Oreva now owns three top-10 WT records and sets a personal best.
MAKING THE FINALS
- Isaac Botsio ran the fastest 100m preliminary time of 9.99 seconds to secure a spot in the finals
- Aziz Mohammed led the start in the 1500m prelims by taking first in 3:53.30
- Corrssia Perry and Blessing Akintoye will compete in the 400m finals; Perry finished the fastest out of all competitors in 52.85 (4th fastest in WT history)
- Deborah Acheampong took first in her 100m heat to autoqualify for finals (11.34)
- Buffs 4x100 took first in their heat (39.72) to secure a finals spot
COMING UP
The multis will compete on Friday at 9:30 a.m. (Decathlon) and 10:30 a.m. (Heptathlon). Finals include men's high jump (3:30 p.m.) and women's triple jump (4:45 p.m.). There are six more preliminary races including the 800m, 200m, 100m hurdles and the 4x400 relay. Finals will take place on Saturday. Follow all updates on GoBuffsGo.com or on WTAMUTrackXC social media.
