LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference outdoor track & field squads were in action last week as Austin College, Dallas, Schreiner, Southwestern and Texas Lutheran traveled to compete in the Hardin-Simmons Invitational, highlighted by TLU winning both the men’s and women’s title.
TLU compiled 204 points to secure first-place out of 14 teams on the men’s side, followed by Southwestern in seventh (27), Dallas and Schreiner tied for ninth (15) and Austin College finished 14th with seven total points. On the women’s side, TLU took home the team title out of 13 squads with 165.5 points. Southwestern finished sixth (41), Dallas was seventh (32), Schreiner was 12th (5) and Austin College finished 13th (4) to round out the SCAC participants.
The TLU men’s team was led by junior Darren Jones and freshman Ezrael Powell who each were double winners last weekend. Jones won both the 100 and 200-meter dashes in 10.59 and 21.68 seconds respectively, while Powell won both the long jump (6.20m) and triple jump (13.08m) in field events. Other outstanding Bulldog performances included junior Paris Foster won the 110-meters in 14.70 seconds and freshman Heath McDonough captured the high jump gold with a leap of 1.82 meters. In the throwing events, junior Jacob Guercia won the hammer thrown with a toss of 43.58 meters and sophomore Ryan Geiger won the javelin thrown with a mark of 46.76 meters. Senior Ashley Myers swept the sprint events, winning the 100-meters in 12.33 seconds and the 200-meters in 25.57 meters to lead the Bulldogs on the women’s side. Four other Bulldogs won events last weekend including freshman Tia Hart winning the javelin (37.54m), junior Ashlee Hooks earned gold in the triple jump (1.47m), sophomore Dejah Carr climbed the podium for the shot put (12.17m) and freshman Lydia Lyssy won the discus (35.65m).
Southwestern was led by senior Sam Grubbs, notching a second-place finish in the hammer throw with a toss of 39.15 meters. On the track, junior Josh Im posted a second-place finish in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 34:41.22. Pirates’ junior Hannah Bruce finished with two top-three finishes, winning the hammer throw (41.64m) and finishing third in the discus (31.46m) to highlight the Southwestern women’s team. Junior Mallory Harkins turned in a top-three finish crossing the line in the 400-meters in 1:06.82 to finish third.
Dallas senior Kevin McGuirk finished second in the javelin with a PR toss of 43.51 meters and shined on the track with a fifth-place performance in the 800-meters (2:10.51) to lead the Crusaders on the men’s side. Freshman Anna Wilgenbusch turned in the top performance for the Dallas women’s team with a second-place finish in the 1,500-meters (5:39.63), while sophomore teammate Clare Hernandez clocked in third (5:50.66) in the same event.
Freshman Joshua Hollis-Roberts and Matthew Wilding were the top performers on the men’s side for Schreiner. Hollis-Roberts placed sixth in the hammer throw (31.10m) and Wilding placed sixth in the 400-meters with a time of 57.58. Highlighting the Mountaineers women’s performances was sophomore Kendall Lee with an eighth-place finish in the 200-meters (28.00).
Freshman RJ Navarro and Andrew Thomas went under the Austin College record in the 5000-meters, with Navarro finishing with a time of 17:18.55 to place fifth and Thomas crossing the line with a time of 17:25.76, good for seventh. On the women’s side, sophomore Danielle Lozano finished fifth in the 5000-meter event, crossing with a time of 22:13.05, while freshman Abigail Morgan added a 12th-place finish in the 800-meters, coming in with a time of 3:27.99.
SCAC track & field continues this week, highlighted by Trinity hosting Schreiner, Southwestern and TLU for its annual Trinity Open.
