- Complete Results
HOUSTON – Jared McNeil finished second in the men's 1500m run with an NCAA Division II provisional time 3:49.26 and all but one runner recorded personal records (PR) at the J.Fred Duckett/Rice Twilight held at the newly renamed Holloway Field and Ley Track in downtown Houston on Saturday.
“We took a group of distance runners to the meet on Saturday and we just had an awesome day of competition,” Tarleton head track & field coach Pat Ponder said following the meet. “It was a great meet, with great weather, nice facilities and a beautiful setting in downtown. Everything went well for us and all of our goals were accomplished.”
One of the goals accomplished was McNeil bettering his provisional mark in the 1500m from 23rd in the nation to No. 8 following his performance.
Gerzain Valenzuela finished with a PR in the men's 5000m run, placing fifth overall with a time of 14:50.61, just a few seconds off a provisional mark of his own. Kolin Styles finished eighth with a time of 14:57.72, while Westyn Rosilies came in 11th with a time of 15:05.03. Ryan Quesada placed 21st with a time of 15:34.83.
“Gerzain had a great run and Westyn's finish was a big surprise as well,” Ponder said. “Both of those runners had a great day and I was very proud of them.”
Jonathan Kern had a top-10 performance in the 800m run, finishing 10th overall with a time of 1:56.34. Kern also placed 28th in the 1500m with a time of 4:21.11.
Gordon Alvarado ran the 800m run as well, coming in 22nd with a time of 1:59.16.
Rounding out the meet, Chris Hearell ran the 3000m steeplechase for the first time this season and finished 12th overall with a time of 9:43.89.
“This was Chris' first time to run the steeplechase event,” Ponder said. “We wanted to try something different for him and he performed very well. All of these runners today did very well and I think it will reap huge benefits going into next Saturday's meet at Abilene Christian as well as into the conference championships in San Angelo in a couple of weeks.”
Both men's and women's teams return to action this coming Saturday at the Oliver Jackson Invitational in Abilene.
