NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS – UT Tyler track & field opened their outdoor portion of the schedule on Saturday and posted a big day at the track at the Ice Breaker Classic.
The Patriots meet kicked off on Friday afternoon with the men's edition of the hammer throw, and
Ty McDaniel set the tone for the Patriots weekend with a second place finish in the discipline. McDaniel posted his best throw of the day in his first attempt, throwing the hammer 51.37 meters to settle into second place and just over a meter behind first.
The meet kept rolling on Saturday in the field events as
Abeni Kratzmeyer, fresh off being named an All-American at the NCAA Indoor Championships last weekend, won the women's pole vault with a height of 4.00 meters. That mark from Kratzmeyer ties the highest mark cleared in the outdoor season thus far in Division II.
Rounding out the field events was
Brooklyn House in both the discus and the shot put. House got her competition started in the discus, and posted a third place finish. Like McDaniel, her best throw of the competition came on her first attempt of the day, as she threw 42.14 meters to lock down third place by over three meters.
She continued over in the shot put, and posted another third place finish in the discipline. Like her attempts in the discus, her best throw came on her first throw, as she launched the shot 13.25 meters to claim third by over a meter and finish less than a meter behind second.
The lone school record of the day fell in the first men's running event of the meet as
Lorenzo Chavez writes his name down in school history with a 31:51.00 time in the men's 10,000 meters. That breaks the former school record by 10 seconds and allowed him to claim the victory. Following Chavez in the event was
Jason Alcala, who posted a third place finish with a time of 32:27.51.
Just a few events later,
Elayna Metzger and
Marigold Hunter both posted top five finishes in the women's 3000 meter steeplechase. Metzger finished second overall in a time of 12:01.10, and Hunter finished fifth and just 15 seconds behind at 12:26.26.
The men's 110 meter hurdles was arguably the best event of the day for the Patriots men, as they posted three top five finishes, including the top two.
Ashton Turner claimed the top prize after running a time of 14.43 to edge out teammate
Brandon Arenas by .15 seconds.
Tristan Meadors was the third finisher for the Patriots, placing fifth with a time of 15.16 seconds.
Turner's day was just beginning, as he took home another event victory, this time in the men's 400 meter hurdles. His time of 55.56 seconds ran away from the field by almost a full second, and finished almost two full seconds ahead of third place.
Nathan Williams also followed in the footsteps of House and Turner, as he posted two top five finishes on the day. The first of those came in the 100 meters, as he placed fourth overall with a time of 10.76 seconds and finished less than a hundredth of a second from third and only five hundredths from taking home the title in a tight race.
His second top five came in the 200 meter dash, as he finished third overall in a time of 21.68. That time finishes two hundredths ahead of fourth place, and .11 seconds ahead of second.
Calista Segura rounded out the top placements for the Patriots, as she finished fifth overall in the women's 800 meters. Segura ran a time of 2:25.32 on the day to place fifth comfortably ahead of sixth place, and just under two seconds behind fourth place.
UT Tyler will next hit the track on March 24-25 as they head to Lubbock, Texas for the third time this semester and the first time in the outdoor season. That event will be the Masked Rider Open and will be hosted by Texas Tech.
