AKRON, Ohio – The Texas State men's and women's track and field teams recorded six victories, one of the nation's top five times, and 25 of the Sun Belt Conference's top 10 performances at the Akron Invitational on Feb. 5-6 in the Stile Field House.
Texas State registered four victories on Friday night.
Kwanele Mthembu won the men's 5,000-meter run,
Paige Kimble won the 60-meter hurdles,
Katherine Stuckly won the women's high jump, and
Anayah Washington won the 200-meter dash.
Mthembu easily won the 5,000-meter run with the third-fastest time in the nation with 14:14.21, the best time in the Sun Belt Conference, and the second-fastest time in school history. Teammate
Nicholas Mosqueda has the fourth-fastest time in the Sun Belt with 15:10.27 and placed sixth at Akron.
Kimble won the 60-meter hurdles with the fourth-fastest time in the Sun Belt Conference time of 8.59.
Ariana Ealy-Pulido edged her sister, Kattiana, to finish fourth place with a time of 8.842. Kattiana had a time of 8.845 in the finals after she posted the Sun Belt's 10th-fastest time of 8.80 seconds in preliminaries.
Stuckly won the women's high jump after clearing 1.72 meters (5' 7.75") on her second attempt. It marks the second straight week that Stuckly has won a high jump competition after she cleared the Sun Belt's third-best height of 1.73 meters (5' 8") at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational on Jan. 30.
Anayah Washington also won the 200-meter dash after posting the fastest time of 24.84 seconds, the sixth-fastest time in the Sun Belt Conference this year. She edged teammate
Christine Irving, who had a time of 24.96 seconds to finish in second place. Her time ranks eighth among league leaders.
Washington also was the runner-up in the women's long jump with a leap of 5.75 meters (18' 10.50"), and that is the seventh-best jump in the Sun Belt this season.
Mckenzie Pearson ranks 10th in the league after placing fifth with a leap of 5.65 meters (18' 6.50") at Akron.
On Saturday,
Chermariea Hardy won the women's 400-meter dash with the Sun Belt Conference's second-fastest time, 55.71 seconds. She edged Irving, who had a time of 56.48, and that time ranks third among league leaders.
Texas State won the women's 4x400-meter relay when Irving, Hardy, Kimble, and
Breanna Clark combined for a time of 3:50.47, the second-fastest time recorded by a Sun Belt team this season.
Shelby Smith and
Sadi Giles had two of the top six 60-meter times in the Sun Belt Conference during the prelims. Smith is tied with Washington for the fourth-fastest with 7.57 seconds, and Giles ranks sixth with 7.59 seconds.
Clark had the Sun Belt's seventh-fastest time and finished in fifth place at Akron in the women's 800 meters with a time of 2:16.79.
Sydney Cole posted the league's fourth-fastest time in the women's 5,000-meter race when she finished in fourth place in 18:22.33.
Lauryn Small finished second in the women's weight throw, and fifth in the shot put. Small ranks fourth among the Sun Belt's weight throw leaders with 17.31 meters (56' 9.50") and ninth in the shot put with 13.40 meters (43' 11.75").
Myles Anders had the league's fifth-fastest time in the men's 60-meter dash with 6.87 seconds.
Pedro Osorio Lopez improved his league-leading time in the 800 meters with 1:50.46 to finish in third place. His time ranks 22nd nationally.
Ian Carter and
Treyvon Mays finished second and third place in the 60-meter hurdles with the Sun Belt's ninth-and-10th-best times of 8.25 and 8.29 seconds, respectively.
Texas State also finished second in the 4x400-meter relay with the Sun Belt's fastest time when
Taahir Kelly, Osorio Lopez, Anders, and
Jaylen Allen finished the race in 3:15.57.
Ronnie Briscoe, Jr., and
Garvin Tolbert finished in third and fourth place in the men's long jump, respectively. Briscoe had a leap of 7.07 meters (23' 5.50"), which ranks eighth in the Sun Belt, while Tolbert had a jump of 7.02 meters (23' 0.50"), 11th in the league.
Tolbert ranks eighth among the Sun Belt's triple jump leaders after placing third with 14.34 meters (47' 0.75").
The Bobcats will compete in the Sun Belt Indoor Track and Field Championships on February 22-23 in Birmingham, Ala.
