North Texas Daily

Coming off an impressive outdoor season opener at Texas Christian University, the Mean Green traveled to Arlington on Friday and Saturday for a two day Bobby Lane invitational meet at Maverick Stadium.

“This is kind of the first full week where we actually ran our individual events,” head coach Carl Sheffield said. “We trained for the past month since the indoor season ended so we were excited to start completion for the outdoor season.”

Mean Green came out of the meet with 15 athletes reaching the podium. Among them was sophomore Karl Sralla, placing first in men’s javelin with a 55.44-meter throw and fourth in discuss. Sophomore Kristyn Archuleta placed first in women’s javelin with a throw of 42.28 meters.

“It’s a young group,” assistant coach Brandon Kelso said. “They bought into training together, they kind of push each other. It’s really all about sticking to the process and leaning on and believing in each other.”

Freshman Taylor Blackshire came in second in women’s 100-meter heat, .04 seconds behind first. In the women’s 800-meter run, junior Baylee Nelson placed third with two North Texas teammates behind her at the fourth and fifth spot; senior Victoria Junious and sophomore Darrian Johnson. In men’s high jump, junior Jourden Taylor received second.    

Despite all the victories, there was a slip up in the 400-meter men’s relay.

“We had a botched exchange on the third leg,” Sheffield said. “We changed the third leg and they ended up missing the exchange. We ran really well too, we were on pace with the team that ended up winning.”

The first place finishes for North Texas continues in the women’s 200-meter sprint as freshman Aneesa Scott placed first with a time of 24.22. There was a one victory in the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase with junior Cassidy Adams taking first and sophomore Jennifer White taking second. In the women’s high jump there was a four-way tie for first including Mean Green’s freshman Amber Walker. Senior Dominique Drayden also placed first in men’s long jump with a 7.23 meter jump.

In the women’s 4 by 100 relay, North Texas received second and in the 4 by 400 they placed third. C-USA’s athlete of the week, sophomore Bailey Ashmore, place second in women’s pole vault. Freshman Hayley Walker also placed, walking away with second in women’s shot put. In the men’s 1500 North Texas snags another podium finish with Tim Jones finishing second.

“We have been trying to get them to buy into the process,” Sheffield said. “They are all talented and come from backgrounds where they have been successful. And now they’ve had to learn to train and sometimes training is difficult. The process, the hard work, and effort will pay off in the long haul and I think today was a good clue of evidence for them.”

Next up: North Texas heads to Austin to take part in the Texas Relays spanning from Wednesday through Saturday.

Featured image: Courtesy: North Texas Athletics.