Brady Johnson

Track & Field 4/14/2022 7:30:00 PM

Texans begin stretch run with a trip to the Piney Woods for the SFA Invite

The Meet: SFA Invite

When: Friday, Apr. 15

Where: Fletcher Garner Track in Nacogdoches, Texas

Live Results: NTXTiming.com

ABOUT THE SFA INVITE

For the first time on the Division I stage, the Tarleton track and field is headed to the Piney Woods.

The Texans are sending 57 athletes – 29 men and 28 women – to Nacogdoches for the SFA Invite.

This will be Tarleton's first time competing against its Western Athletic Conference counterparts in east Texas on the outdoor track. Sam Houston and Lamar are traveling their full teams. Also included among the 12 confirmed programs competing are Conference USA adversaries Rice and Louisiana Tech and former Lone Star Conference rival Dallas Baptist.

The four-hour bus ride east officially kicks off the stretch run of the Texans' 2022 campaign. Tarleton has just one regular season meet remaining on the docket – the UTA Invitational on Apr. 28 – before heading to the pacific northwest for the WAC Outdoor Championships on May 12-14 in Seattle.

The Texans will be represented in all individual events sans the 3k steeplechase on Friday. Tarleton is not entering teams for either the 4x100m or 4x400m relays.

The meet begins at 9 a.m. with the start of field events. The action then transitions to the track at noon for a full medley of sprints, mid-distance races, short and long hurdles and relays. The one-day affair concludes from 7-9 p.m. with the distance carnival (1,500m, 3k steeplechase, 5,000m).

Live results for the meet are provided by NTX Timing. Visit the Tarleton track and field schedule page on TarletonSports.com to access links to live results, meet information and a schedule of events.

COMPETING FOR TARLETON

Sprints

Tarleton has 12 athletes competing in the 100m and/or the 200m, four of whom rank in the top-10 of the WAC Outdoor Performance List in at least one event.

The featured member of the quartet unquestionably is Justin Raines, who became the second athlete in program history to be named WAC Track Athlete of the Week on Tuesday after he clocked the conference's fastest 100m time (10.23) at the North Texas Classic. Raines, the reigning WAC 60m champion and Most Outstanding Freshman, also ranks 12th in the NCAA South Central Region and 26th among all D1 athletes. Raines will race in each event.

On the women's side, Nyla Barlow, Hanna Dudley and Breonna Campbell give the Texans a star-studded sprinting trio. All three athletes rank in the top-10 in school history in both events.

Barlow's lone race of the afternoon will be the 200m – an event she ranks seventh in the WAC in at 24.08 seconds. The junior is Tarleton's indoor 200m school-record holder and is fresh off a third-place finish in the 400m (57.23) last weekend in Denton.

Dudley, like Barlow, is set to sprint just once having earned the silver medal in the 400m (57.05) at UNT. She'll toe the start line in the 100m – her specialty. Dudley ranks ninth and 10th, respectively, in the WAC in the 100m and 400m.

Following a week of rest, Campbell will sprint in both the 100m and 200m. The start to Campbell's outdoor tenure in Purple and White has been nothing short of spectacular. The freshman moved to seventh on Tarleton's all-time outdoor top-10 list in the 100m fter clocking a time of 11.96 at the Baylor Invitational on Apr. 2 and began her outdoor collegiate career by crossing the 200m finish line in 24.82 at the ACU Wes Kittley Invitational on March 19 to ascend to eighth in school history.

Also sprinting in both events for the women are Summer Croxton, who ranks 10th in school history in the 200m (24.84) and is the fourth member of Tarleton's 4x100m relay team, Reagan Gallagher and Danielle Thomas.

Decathlete Isaac Hutchings and Reid Vincent are taking their second crack at the open 100m this season after anchoring Tarleton's 4x100m relay at UNT. Short distance hurdlers Konnor Hoerman and Sullivan Sanders will join Raines in the 200m as will graduate student Mikel Stone – the Texans' indoor 200m school record-holder (21.66).

400m and 800m

The Texans are racing their best on both sides in the 400m.

Brandon McKissick (48.21) and Jordan Anglin (56.76) own Tarleton's top times and are seventh and eighth in the WAC in their respective genders.

Tarleton's depth in the women's 400m will be on full display. All four athletes rank in the top-20 in the WAC. Alessa King is Tarleton's No. 4 performer at 57.52 seconds. Freshman Macie Evans put on a show in front of a hometown crowd last week at UNT, as she broke 58 seconds for the first time ever at 57.93 and surpassed her outdoor personal record by more than a second. Fellow newcomer Brenna Lee was just as impressive, as she registered her own lifetime personal record of 58.07 and finished one spot back of Evans.

Bailey Smotek and Zachary Martinez complete Tarleton's men's 400m arsenal. The duo teamed up with McKissick to help capture the men's 4x400m relay title at the 2021 WAC Outdoor Championships. Smotek owns Tarleton's second-fastest time this season at 49.29 while Martinez is fresh off a season personal record of 49.73.

Kevin Calvani and Angel Gomez comprise Tarleton's men's 800m duo. Calvani is looking to surpass his personal record of 1:56.04, which ranks second on the squad, while Gomez is racing in the event for the second time collegiately one week after finishing sixth overall and winning his 1,500m heat in Denton.

Freshmen Sage Lancaster and Kailey Sykora and outgoing graduate student Johnnie Wilkinson will follow in the women's race.

Distance

Six members of Tarleton's distance crew will race in either the 1,500m or 5,000m.

Kevin Baez leads a three-man contingent in the men's 1,500m. The junior notched Tarleton's second-fastest 5,000m time in school history (14:36.34) at UNT and is two weeks removed from a first-place finish in the 3,000m (8:34.76) at the Baylor Invitational. Baez is Tarleton's top performer in all three distance events.

He'll be joined by a pair of freshmen in Austin Flores and Khristian Vastlik. Flores finished seventh at UNT with a lifetime personal record of 4:11.40. Vastlik raced in the 5,000m at the meet in his collegiate debut and checked in with Tarleton's second-fastest time this season (15:11.12).

Aimee Landers-Wilburn is running solo in the women's 1,500m. She was one of six event-winners at UNT as she finished first in the 5,000m in 19:45.84. This will be her first time racing in the 1,500m at Tarleton.

Dominick Vastlik, a junior and the older brother of Khristian Vastlik, and Vianney Sanchez will then close the show in the 5,000m.

Hurdles

The 100m hurdles and 110m hurdles will first be contested as prelims. The top-eight athletes advance to the finals, which take place about an hour after prelims are completed.

Konnor Hoerman, Sullivan Sanders and Brady Sisneroz each are hunting their second straight season personal record in the 110m hurdles. Hoerman placed fifth in 14.77 at UNT. Sanders, whose lifetime personal record is 14.67, finished one spot behind Hoerman in 14.80. Sisneroz specializes in the 400m hurdles – he ranks sixth in the WAC and 28th in the South Central Region at 54.41 seconds – and turned in a career-best 110m hurdles time (15.27) at the Baylor Invitational.

Heptathletes Kyndal Gladson and Rese Schoonover are looking to fine-tune their performances in the 100m hurdles. Karleigh Hill – Tarleton's No. 1 performer in the 400m hurdles (1:05.51) - will join them.

All three athletes will then race in the 400m hurdles as will junior Ashlynn Cash, who's searching for her third consecutive personal record this season.

Sisneroz headlines an stellar four-man 400m hurdles lineup. Joey Ortiz-Martinez claimed fourth place at UNT behind a season personal record of 55.98. He was followed by freshman Brett Munoz, who notched his third straight personal record at 56.35 seconds to place one spot back of the senior. Dahmir Pearson, who earned All-WAC second team credentials at the 2021 WAC Outdoor Championships in 54.04, rounds out the contingent.

Jumps

Gladson is competing in the open long jump for the second time this season. The sophomore certainly made a splash in the event at Tarleton's season-opener in Abilene. She leapt 18' 8" and currently occupies the No. 9 spot on the WAC Outdoor Performance List.

Vincent has established himself as Tarleton's No. 2 performer and will be in action on the men's side. His top performance in the event came in his collegiate debut, when he jumped 23' 5.5" to move to second on Tarleton's all-time indoor top-10 list.

Jaden Hall and Nakia Dunn are taking aim at the long jump as well. Dunn has notched eight career top-10 finishes in the event and owns a lifetime personal record of 17' 11.5". Hall obtained a lifetime best leap of 22' 5" at the WAC Indoor Championships in February. High jump specialist Jamariyan Howlett is taking a stab at the long jump for the first time this season.

Hall and Howlett's day will continue into the afternoon where they will compete in the triple jump. At the North Texas Classic, Hall claimed the bronze to notch his third collegiate medal, jumping 45' 4.5". Howlett's last outing in the event was at the WAC Indoor Championships, where he jumped a personal best 44' 9.75".

Over on the high jump apron, reigning WAC Outdoor Champion Gentrye Munden is looking to kickstart her push toward another conference medal. She'll also provide invaluable mentorship to Schoonover, who cleared 4' 10.25" as a part of her first career heptathlon at the David Noble Relays on March 31.

Kyler Seymore (6' 5.5") and Maxon Newell (6' 3.5") are Tarleton's two men's competitors. They rank eighth and 12th, respectively, among their conference peers.

Throws

Suffice it to say, Tarleton is looking to match its best collective outing of the season in the javelin in Nacogdoches, At UNT, four athletes won medals, three set personal records, and two are currently in the top-10 in the WAC Outdoor Performance List. And all four will be in action Friday morning.

Elise Smith earned her first gold medal in Purple and White behind her best collegiate performance with a heave of 148' 6". The feat replaced the personal record she set at the Baylor Invitational, and she is now ranked second on the all-time outdoor school list. Smith's mark places her fifth overall within the WAC and 90th among all DI athletes.

Kora Pennartz placed third after with a sling of 117' 5" to earn her second career medal.

For the men, Ben Presley had a meet to remember as did newcomer Aneudy Pimentel. Presley won the event after he threw the implement 172' 4" to move into sixth place on the all-time outdoor record books and sixth in the WAC. Pimentel surpassed his previous personal best with a toss of 165' 5" to finish one spot behind Presley in just his third collegiate meet.

The Texans will be represented in the discus and hammer throw by four athletes; Oscar Rodriguez, Ethan Bratton, Elena Reagan and Bonnie Clifton.

Rodriguez notched season personal records in both the hammer throw (171' 4") and discus (163' 0") to strengthen his standing within the top-10 of the WAC Outdoor Performance List and top-30 of the NCAA D1 South Central Region Outdoor Performance List.

Bratton has obtained personal records in five of his last six meets dating back to the 2021 campaign. He'll also be in action in the shot put, where he leads Tarleton at 47' 1.75".

Reagan came within less than six feet of breaking Tarleton's school record in the hammer throw with a career-best heave of 154' 7" in Denton. She is the Texans top performer in both events.

Clifton was impressive in her own right at UNT, as she registered a 14-foot personal record in the hammer throw (139' 11") to finish eighth overall.

Pole Vault

Hutchings will vault for the men Friday afternoon. Hutchings comes into the meet ranked 19th in the WAC on the heels of his best outdoor performance last weekend at UNT (15' 1").

Keelin Engel, Allison Robling, and Chloe Smith will compete on the women's side. Robling comes into the event tied for 12th in the WAC, while Engel is tied for 15th.

TEXANS AMONG THE NATION'S ELITE

Oscar Frazier Memorial Track is home to a select group of athletes who are among the best amateur competitors in the country in their respective events. Tarleton has three athletes featured in the top-100 of the NCAA DI Outdoor Qualifying List as of April 13.

Men

100m

T-26. Justin Raines – 10.23 seconds

Long Jump

T-52. Alan Palmer – 24' 7"

Women

High Jump

T-49. Rylee Hennig – 5' 8.75"

Javelin

90. Elise Smith – 148' 6"

ACROSS THE SOUTH CENTRAL REGION

The Texans have 28 athletes – 16 men and 12 women – ranked in the top-30 of the NCAA D1 South Central Region Outdoor Performance List in at least one individual event as of April 13.

Men

100m

T-12. Justin Raines – 10.23 seconds

400m Hurdles

28. Brady Sisneroz – 54.41 seconds

High Jump

T-22. Jamariyan Howlett – 6' 7.5"

T-25. Kyler Seymore – 6' 5.5"

Long Jump

9. Alan Palmer – 24' 7"

Triple Jump

27. Jaden Hall – 47' 3.75"