The Texas State track and field team hosted the Charles Austin Classic, its first outdoor home meet, on March 22-23 in San Marcos at the Texas State Track and Field Complex.
The Bobcats took home an impressive 19 gold medals, with 16 individual and three relay medals.
Sophomore sprinter Ma’Khi Falkquay finished first overall in the women’s 200-meter dash, running a personal best time of 23.96. She was eleven-tenths of a second faster than the second-place time of 24.07.
Sophomore sprinter Abigail Parra achieved first place in the women’s 800-meter run while also setting a personal best with a time of 2:11.8, almost a full five seconds ahead of the next fastest time.
Graduate student sprinter Kerrington Johnson placed first in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, with a recorded time of 1:02.26, just under half a second faster than second place.
Junior distance runner Daniela Wisniewski got the gold medal in the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase event with a time of 12:17.19, also good for a personal best.
The women’s 4×400 relay team, consisting of sophomore Taejha Badal,
Falkquay, junior sprinter Kaylee Lewis and redshirt senior sprinter Kerris Roberts took home the gold medal with a time of 3:45.87.
Freshman jumper Chinenye Uzoh tied for first in the women’s high jump event with a recorded 1.67-meter jump while tying her personal best.
Freshman jumper Precious Okougbodu finished first overall in the women’s triple jump with a leap of 12.54 meters, a personal record.
Sophomore thrower Melanie Duron yet again took home a gold medal for the women’s shot put event with a 15.79-meter toss.
Fellow sophomore thrower Utitofon Sam placed first in the women’s discus with a toss of 50.73 meters.
Another female thrower took home gold for the Bobcats in Lara Roberts. A 64.82-meter hammer throw for Roberts was 10 meters more than the second-place toss.
After an incredible indoor season, Indoor All-American graduate student sprinter Daniel Harrold finished first place in the 100-meter dash with a 10.62-second time, narrowly defeating the 10.63-second second-place time.
Senior sprinter Brian West II set a personal best time in the 200-meter dash, clocking 21.07 seconds, which was good for a gold medal.
Freshman distance runner Nathan Morales placed first in the 5000-meter event with a time of 14:59.09.
The men’s relay teams shined at the meet. The 4×400 relay team of Tahir Kelly, Dominick Yancy, West II and Shawn Collins set the meet and facility record time of 3:06.64. The 4×100 relay team swapped West II in favor of Harrold and placed first by clocking a time of 39.75.
Sophomore jumper Aiden Hayes leaped himself to a first-place finish in the men’s high jump event with a 2.11-meter mark.
Fellow sophomore jumper Chris Preddie took home gold in two events. A 7.73-meter long jump and a 15.12-meter triple jump were both good enough for first-place finishes.
Freshman thrower Alberto Archundia placed first in the men’s discus throw with a toss of 45 meters.
Texas State will look to ride the momentum established from winning 19 gold medals into the Texas Relays. The meet will be hosted by the University of Texas and will begin Wednesday, March 27, and conclude Saturday, March 30, at Mike A. Myers Stadium and Soccer Field in Austin.
