STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State Track and Field is nearing the end of the regular season and will host the third annual Joe Gillespie Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the Tarleton State Track Complex.

This marks the third annual Joe Gillespie Invitational hosted by Tarleton State at the Tarleton State Track Complex. The two-day event will start on Friday afternoon with the men's javelin at 1 p.m. Also on Friday, in the field events will be women's javelin and men's and women's discus. Friday night on the track will feature the 200 meters for both the men and women as well as the 3000-meter steeplechase, 1500 and 5000-meter runs.

"We are very excited to have our invitational meet this weekend," said head coach Bobby Carter. "Our athletes are also very excited to compete here at home! For the past two years, our fans have had to watch online and get updates on how we did! Now they get to come and support and see what our team is all about! This isn't just a home meet—it's an opportunity to feel the energy, the pride, and the standard we're building every day."

Admission is free for all fans and students. A limited supply of commemorative Women's WAC Champion posters will be given away as supplies last. Live stats will be provided by Mile Split Texas. There will not be a stream, but follow @tarletonxctrack for live updates, highlights and more on X and Instagram.
 
The meet is named in honor of Dr. Joe Gillespie's exceptional 44-year career as a professor, coach (football & track), HPE/KINE Department Head, Athletic Director, Dean of the College of Education, and Regents Professor at Tarleton State University. Gillespie was inducted into the Tarleton State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000. He served as secondary coach and defensive coordinator for the Texan football team. As defensive coordinator, he had the No. 1 defense in the nation in 1978 when the Texans went 8-0-1 and made the Division II Playoffs. Gillespie coached Tarleton State to seven TIAA championships in track and field, coached four All-American track athletes, and was named conference coach of the year seven times.
 
Saturday will feature a full slate of events starting with men's hammer at 9 a.m. The track events will commence at 11 a.m. with the 110-meter hurdles followed by the women's 100-meter hurdles. Tarleton State will honor 17 of its graduating seniors with a special ceremony at 5:20 p.m. on Saturday night before the meet concludes with the pair of 4x400 meter relays.

Last weekend at the Baylor Invitational, the Texans broke two school records and took home four individual event titles. Malak Rashwan set the new program record in the 100-meter hurdles crossing in 13.66 seconds. She just missed the Egyptian national record by 0.02 seconds. She placed fourth overall but was the top collegian to finish. Jacob Thomas broke his own school record and took home the individual crown. He cleared each of his first four bars on his first attempt and set a new personal best at 5.21 meters. Thomas now ranks 24th in the NCAA West Region. His performance earned him his first WAC Men's Field Athlete of the Week honors this outdoor season.

David Mvundura also took home a WAC weekly honor after his pair of top three performances. He won the 200 meters with the fourth best time in program history and the 17th best time in the NCAA West this year in 20.68 seconds. He also took third in the 100 in 10.45 seconds. Tayler Wessely took home the women's hammer title with a best toss of 57.54 meters. Mason Hill earned first in the men's shot put with a best toss of 17.17 meters.

Last year at the Joe Gillespie Invitational, the Texans won 12 individual event titles. In addition, the Purple and White set 18 new top 10 program performance bests.  The Texans also set seven new facility records.

The Texans will have two more regular season meets following this weekend. Next Friday and Saturday, April 24-25, the Texans will head to Baylor to compete at the Michael Johnson Invitational. The squad's regular season finale will take place on Friday and Saturday May 1-2 at the SMU Invitational.