North Texas track and field traveled to the Ted Nelson Invitational in College Station, Texas. The Mean Green men’s team placed third out of 16 teams. North Texas women’s team finished in second place behind Northwestern State out of 16 teams.
“A lot of people opened the season with performances far beyond what they have ever done in the past,” head coach Carl Sheffield said. “I told them in our meeting after the meet that our persistence in practice pays off.”
In the running events for the men, North Texas had seven runners finish in the top five of its events. In the one mile, sophomore Alec Esposito placed second in with the time of 4:18.93. Freshman Braden Lange finished fourth in the mile and ran it in 4:19.43.
Junior Joseph Squire competed in the 60-meter hurdle with a time of 7.97 seconds and placed second establishing a new personal record. Sophomore Antonio De La Cruz placed third and had a time of 6.8 seconds.
Sophomore Davonye Jones ended in fourth in the 200-meter dash with 21.9 seconds. In the 3000-meter dash, North Texas had two runners place in the top five. Junior Matthew Morgan finished second at 8:33.24. Sophomore Caleb Bouchard ended in fourth with a time of 8:45.90.
“Our men’s team is a more balanced team that will score from a number of events in the coming meets,” Sheffield said.
In the field event for the men, North Texas had one athlete place in the top five of their event. Senior Jacob Franks participated in the pole vault and made second place with his longest jump being 4.91 meters. In the men’s throw, sophomore Chris Samaniego placed sixth with his best throw being 15.61 meters.
“Our focus has really been on learning from our mistakes,” Sheffield said.
In the women’s running events, North Texas had three athletes in the top three of their events and a relay team in the top three. In the 200-meter race, junior Aneesa Scott finished first with a time of 23.64 seconds, beating her own school record from last season.
Sophomore Aubrey Schmidt was in the 3000-meter competition and ended in first with a final time of 10:16.96. Freshman Amaris Chavez finished in the 5000-meter and ended up placing in third with a time of 19:20.93. The team also had their 4×400 meter relay team place second with a time of 3:50.57.
“I was very excited to see Bailey Ashmore return to full strength and immediately raise the bar to a new school record in the pole vault,” Sheffield said. “Aneesa Scott ran a blistering 200 [meter] to open her season and establish a new school mark.”
In the field events, North Texas had five field athletes finish in the top five of their field events. Freshman Charlotte Kerr competed in the high jump and finished fourth with her best jump being 1.63 meters. Junior Jaleisa Shaffer participated in the shot put and finished fourth with a throw that sailed for 14.48 meters. Junior Haley Walker placed third in weight throw with her best mark being 17.71m.
Junior Bailey Ashmore ended up in second place with her best jump being 3.88 meters, a school record.
Sophomore Sydney Salinas finished third and her best jump was 3.58 meters. Sophomore Mary Piercy tied for fifth place with a jump of 3.43 meters.
“We want to continue to build our confidence for competing in Conference USA,” Sheffield said “We beat some teams we were supposed to beat. We look forward to the coming weeks as competition demands grow.”
UP NEXT: North Texas track and field is traveling to compete in the Texas Tech Invitational in Lubbock, Texas on Jan. 24.
Featured Image: Freshman Zoe Lewis throws her javelin during a practice session on Jan. 15, 2020. Image by Ryan Cantrell
Article Originally Published by on North Texas Daily
Source: North Texas Daily