DALLAS — Emma Holmes set school record in 400 meters to lead Tarleton State Track and Field in their regular season finale at the SMU Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium.
 
On Saturday, Holmes highlighted the day setting the new school record and cracking the NCAA West top 48 in the 400 meters. The Texans started the meet with a pair of first place titles on Friday night. Colton Andress punched a spot in the top 48 in the NCAA winning the high jump. AJ Alfaro closed out the night winning the men's 3000-meter steeplechase.
 
Overall across the two days, the Texans posted five program top 10 performances and a school record. A pair of Texans posted top 48 NCAA West region times to potentially punch a ticket to the NCAA West First Rounds at the end of May.
 
Saturday
Emma Holmes broke her own school record yet again in the 400 meters. Holmes won the event and set the Washburne facility record clocking in at 52.92 seconds. The freshman won by almost a half of a second over second place finished Kendahl Tucker of North Texas. She now owns a top 48 time in the NCAA West.
 
Ca'terrin Cox placed second in the 110-meter hurdles. Cox placed second in his heat and second overall in 13.84 seconds. Cox was the runner-up by 0.03 seconds running into a headwind of 1.3 meters per second.
 
Tayler Wessely placed fourth in the women's shot put with a best toss of 14.39 meters. With that toss she improves herself to the second-best toss in program history. Wessely surpassed her personal best by three tenths of a meter. Mason Hill also placed fourth on the men's side with a best toss of 16.73 meters.
 
Timothy Price Jr. placed third in the 400 meters. Price clocked in at 48.07 seconds. Each of the top five overall finishers were in his heat.
 
Jayana Phillips finished fourth in the women's triple jump. Her best leap of 12.48 meters came on her first attempt. She also tallied two more leaps longer than 12 meters.
 
Amandine Estival placed third in the women's 100 meters. She matched her personal best of 11.52 seconds.
 
Rhett Williams cleared a season-high 4.70 meters to improve the tenth best clearance in program history. Williams cleared four bars with just four misses at those heights. He narrowly missed each of his three attempts at 4.80 meters.
 
Jordan Ferguson finished in fourth in the 400-meter hurdles. After falling behind early, his late kick brought him back to place second in his heat and fourth overall.
 
Jace Poole placed sixth overall setting a new personal best of 3:54.24 in the 1500 meters. Poole improved to the eighth best mark in program history.
 
Christian Simmons improved to fourth best in program history in the 800 meters. Simmons improved his season best by four tenths of a second to climb from fifth to fourth The senior placed seventh overall in the event.
 
Friday
Colton Andress started the competition off on a high note for the Texans. Andress was the last to enter the competition with his opening height of 1.95 meters. The freshman made quick work of that bar clearing on his first attempt. He was one of four to clear that height on his first attempt and one of six to advance in the competition. He needed two attempts to clear the 2.00-meter bar and it came down to his third attempt to clear the 2.05-meter bar. After passing at the 2.08-meter height, Andress was one of three jumpers left at the 2.11-meter bar. He needed just two attempts to clear. The final three each cleared the 2.11-meter bar, but no one was clean over the 2.14 mark, so Andress was crowned the champion by having the fewest misses.
 
AJ Alfaro won the 3000-meter steeplechase in 9:45.55. He was just 42 hundredths of a second away from his personal best that ranks eighth in program history. Alfaro notched his first individual event title of his career with the victory. Freshman Tyler Hedgepeth placed second clocking in just four seconds behind him. Hedgepeth finish in 9:49.26, the ninth fastest time in program history.
 
Kaitlyn Gale placed second and nearly broke her own school record in the 3000 Steeplechase. The sophomore crossed in second place just two seconds behind Missouri State's champion. Gale clocked in at 10:44.65 just six hundredths of a second away from breaking her own school record of 10:44.59.
 
Tarleton State Track and Field will have nearly two weeks to prepare for the 2026 WAC Track and Field Championships. For the second-straight year, the WAC Championships will be held at Mavericks Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The three-day meet starts on Thursday with a majority of day consisting of prelims on Thursday and Friday on the track and finals all day on Saturday.